The frame is the same the Itala’s, which went down in history for having won the legendary Beijing-Paris race in 1907. The refined landaulet bodywork – with silver eagle-shaped handles – was however built in Milan by Cesare Sala expressly for Queen Margherita of Savoy, and baptized Palombella. Carlo Biscaretti had to work hard to track it down because in 1925 the Queen had donated it to her parish of San Camillo in Rome for it to be used in the church’s charity lottery. It was won by engineer Ressmann who sold it to the Museum in 1934 at “an incredibly modest price, with the only purpose of clearing the garage”.
