Lancia is celebrating its centenary, an extraordinary achievement which only a few other car manufacturers can boast, and the company has decided to put on a range of different initiatives. Two of these are scheduled for the first week of September: the 63rd Venice International Film Festival”, of which Lancia is Main Sponsor, and the “Lancia Club Turin International Meeting 2006”, an event which is set to bring over three hundred vintage Lancias from all round the world to Turin.

Lancia is the main sponsor of the 63rd Venice International Film Festival

This year Lancia is celebrating its centenary. In its one hundred years of existence, this historic car company has created a reputation for class and elegance which has made Italian style famous throughout the world. To celebrate this anniversary Lancia has decided to pay homage to the film industry, as main sponsor of the 63rd Venice International Film Festival. The Lancia success story is based on innovation, original technical solutions, high quality materials and trim, class, sophistication and performance, and joining up with Italy’s most important cultural event represented another opportunity to reiterate its commitment to promoting the values linked to Italian style.

It should be remembered that Lancia already enjoys a close relationship with the film industry, which dates back to the beginning of the last century: “In the first Turin-made silent films some models of cars, Lancia cars in particular, were almost magical catalysts in creating the first male and female Italian divas, as in the works of Emilio Ghione, who used Lancias in his films. Then in the films of the thirties, and in particular in those of the so-called “white telephone” genre that this type of car was chosen to accompany, on the one hand, the dreams of the Italian people beyond the threshold of “one thousand lire a month” and on the other to provide the key to the door of modernity”.

Even in more recent times Lancias have starred in highly successful films. Since the fifties the models made by the Turin manufacturer have made frequent film appearances. In some cases they have even come to shape the style and iconography of some particular periods. Dating back to the post-war period is the series of films taken from the novels by Guareschi: in the 1952 film “The Little World of Don Camillo” there is a Lancia Astura, an elite, powerful car produced in the 30s. In “I soliti Ignoti” of 1958 there is a Lancia Aurelia B10, a model which confirmed the philosophy of the brand after the war, and was the direct forerunner of the Aurelia B24 convertible, which appeared in the 1962 film “The Easy Life” directed by Dino Risi and starring Catherine Spaak, Vittorio Gassman and Jean-Louis Trintignant, without a doubt the most important car ever to appear in an Italian film.

In 1966 Claude Lelouch made the interesting decision to use a racy Flavia Coupé alongside the main car in “A Man and a Woman”, and even more importantly a Lancia Thema was chosen for the 1986 follow-up “A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later”. Period films feature cars from the same era, and it is significant that the brand appears in some of the best historic films, such as the Lancia Artena used in the 1974 film “The Last Days of Mussolini”. As for more eclectic productions, such as the work of Dario Argento, Lancia is present in the 1975 film “Deep Red” in the shape of a Fulvia Coupé, a car which was ahead of its time in terms of performance, elegance and attention to detail.

Another tribute to Lancia from the film world was in “Herbie goes to Montecarlo”, made in 1977, where two Lancias, the Scorpion and the Stratos, showed off their different characters in distinct parts. In 1981 Alain Delon starred in the film “Pour la peau d’un flic” behind the wheel of a Delta, the newly elected Car of the Year.
 

The subsequent four wheel drive version of this car went on to set a record which remains unbeaten today, winning six consecutive Rally World Championships from 1987 to 1992. More recently, the Lancia Ypsilon starred in the short film “Affinità elettive” (2003) directed by Gabriele Muccino, starring Nicoletta Romanoff and Milena Mancini. The Lancia Thesis starred in another original short: “The Call” (2006) by Antoine Fuqua, which also heralded the debut of Pirelli in the film industry. The Lancia flagship car is the powerful, silent saloon which takes the exorcist (John Malkovich) to his date with Evil.

At Venice Lancia will also be displaying a range of vintage models and organising a variety of different initiatives both for its dealerships and the public. “With a background like this it was a natural choice to partner the 63rd Venice International Film Festival”, asserts Olivier François, Brand Manager for Lancia, “It is a truly great honour for us to work with this event. It is an ideal setting for celebrating our first one hundred years of history, in the presence of an international crowd, while at the same time looking to the future”.

Lancia Club Turin International Meeting

The “Lancia Club Turin International Meeting” will be held in Turin from 4 to 9 September, with the participation of over three hundred vintage cars, that the public will be able to admire in the inner courtyard of Palazzo dell’Arsenale, headquarters of the Army’s Scuola di Applicazione e Studi Militari.

The event is divided into two plenary days and four different daily agendas which will explore the industrial history of the city and the Turin area, with participants divided into four groups of 75 cars, or their teams where the use of the car is not scheduled. The production range will be represented by almost all the standard models ever produced, while the special versions will show how the most talented bodyworkers have interpreted Lancia innovation, technology and performance through time.

The detailed schedule from 5 to 8 September sees the four groups taking part in numerous activities including reliability trials on the track in the Mandria park, a procession through the historic centre of Saluzzo and the park of Racconigi, and a tour of the Langhe, including stops for wine-tasting. The programme also includes visits to the Castle of Venaria Reale, palazzo dell’Arsenale, and the main museums, including the Film Museum and the Armeria Reale, the Collezione Pininfarina, the Palazzina di caccia of Stupinigi and lastly to the Lancia production lines in the Mirafiori plant. There is also a special visit to the Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile, which will be featuring an exhibition dedicated to Vincenzo Lancia.

Then on Saturday 9 September all the cars present will join a procession through Turin, stopping for a display in one of the city’s most important squares, then with a drive-past of the most interesting models. At the same time virtual starters orders will be given to the teams of Lancia Club Italia entered into the international rally to be held in the United States in October. Apart from many Lambda, Astura, Aprilia and Aurelia models, also present will be rare models built in the first decade of the last century, such as the Alpha, Gamma, Epsilon and Kappa.

On Wednesday 6 September there is to be a conference about the centenary held in Palazzo dell’Arsenale, with the participation of celebrities from the car world and members of the city council, as well as important entrepreneurs, bodyworkers and race drivers connected to the world of Lancia. On 8 September there is to be a special Lancia evening, while the final gala dinner on the next day will take place in a specially decorated area with musical accompaniments inside Palazzo dell’Arsenale among the guests of honour themselves, the Lancia cars.