Garage Italia is a creative and cultural hub, conceived and created by Gianni Agnelli’s nephew, Lapo Elkann. The Turin-based entrepreneur wanted to bring back to life a symbolic place of post-war renaissance Milan: the Agip service station in Piazzale Accursio, commissioned by ENI founder Enrico Mattei.
Inside the “service station”, in addition to the bar and a restaurant, there is a real atelier where projects for the restoration and customization of cars, motorcycles and boats come to life.
Garage Italia is absolutely worth a visit, Lapo, in fact, together with the architect Michele De Lucchi, have created a real “toy house” that leaves everyone speechless. On the ground floor there is the bar, on the ceiling of which are hung a thousand model cars that make you want to come back as a child to play;
Upstairs there is also the possibility to dine with Drake’s favourite dishes (Enzo Ferrari), the lawyer Agnelli’s favourite salad and many other dishes that the famous people of the car loved to eat. All this can be enjoyed while sitting on the beautiful leather upholstered sofas of the Ferrari 146, illuminated by lamps built with exhaust pipes and surrounded by a track of radio-controlled cars, also this time hanging from the ceiling.
But the surprises don’t end there, going up one more floor there is a terrace furnished in nautical style, with wooden floors and armchairs reminiscent of those of Riva boats.
The bathrooms are also covered in mahogany wood with taps of typical industrial design. The air you breathe is unfortunately not that of the sea, but the impression you get is certainly that of being on a beautiful Riva, great Italian naval excellence in the world.
Those who want a more adrenaline-filled experience can try the professional driving simulator in the shape of a Ferrari 458, mounted on robotic arms that make the experience even more realistic.
But the Garage is not only the one told so far, on the contrary the real essence of Lapo’s Garage lies in the projects of restoration and customization of cars, motorcycles and boats.
Just last year, among the many projects launched by the Turin entrepreneur, there is one that involves the restoration of famous Italian historic cars. The aim is not only to restore the car, but to customize it in every detail and above all to replace the combustion engine with highly efficient electric engines. The “ICON-E” project, this is the name chosen by the Agnelli heir, has already passed on a Fiat 500 jolly and a first series 4×4 panda.
And it is precisely in this period that Garage Italia custom informs the public that it wants to continue this restomod series with the legendary Alfa Romeo Spider (Duetto).
The “made in Milan” masterpiece designed by Pininfarina, sold between 1966 and 1994 in four series, of which Lapo’s company decided to take the last one, will be transformed into a zero-emission one-off.
The concept announced on the Facebook, page, shows how the lines remain faithful to Pininfarina’s design, but with some revisions to the trunk, rear bumper and lights, which seems to be replaced with modern LEDs to give the car a new youth.
The restmod ICON-E replaces the classic soft top with an all transparent hard-top.
From the rendering you can see that the space that should have occupied the roof opening mechanism has been removed, now covered with a beautiful red wood finish.
A great deal of cleaning work has been done on the interior, the inserts now show the colour of the bodywork inside as well.
In the dashboard remains the “H” gear lever, at the moment the reason is not known, since in an electric car (unfortunately) it is a superfluous element.
In any case, even just in the images released on social channels you can see as always the high level of craftsmanship and customization to which Carlo Borromeo – creative director of garage Italia – has now accustomed us in his projects.
Even if at the moment we are only talking about a concept, we hope that the Garage Italia team will do its usual magic, making a drawing on paper an object of desire for many fans, and to be able to see it whizzing, this time silently, along the streets of our beautiful Italy.
Laureando in giurisprudenza appassionato di giornalismo, di politica e del mondo dei motori.