Bellissima! Italian design icons to guest star in Nashville

Nashville, Tennessee is known as the home of American country music and it’s rare for Italian divas to appear here. However, an exhibition at the First Center will bring the great beauties of the Italian automobile and motorcycle industry to the city.

Italian beauties

The exhibition, titled ‘Bellissima! The Italian Automotive Renaissance 1945-1975’ at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, Tennessee, will be dedicated to the tailor-made automobiles, design studies and motorcycles that were designed and manufactured in Italy from 1945 to 1975. Back in 2013, guest curator Ken Gross held a special exhibition – ‘Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles’ – that set the scene for similar events and, in summer 2016, he will return to Nashville with 18 cars and 3 motorcycles. Among the classics from Alfa Romeo, Bizzarrini, Ducati, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lancia and Maserati that come from private collections and museums, you will discover some of the most elegant designs of the post-War era, designs that one would otherwise only see at major concours events such as Pebble Beach or Villa d’Este. Examples include three of the legendary BAT design studies from Bertone and a Ferrari 250 GTO – although our personal favourite is the turbine-powered Chrysler Ghia ‘Gilda’ of 1955.