The second talk dedicated to the protagonists who shaped some of the most thrilling chapters in motorsport history brings audiences back to the heart of a bold and revolutionary era defined by courage, talent and transformation. Sharing their stories will be authoritative voices and direct witnesses of that extraordinary time: Thierry Boutsen, Arturo Merzario, and journalist and writer Gianni Cancellieri. Moderated by Carlo Cavicchi and Mario Donnini, the conversation weaves together memories, anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stories, capturing all the adrenaline and fascination of an unforgettable season in racing history.
- THE EXHIBITION
Lucio Dalla and Roberto Roversi – Automobili. An Album
13/05/2026 – 20/09/2026
Fifty years after the release of the album, an exhibition project that invites visitors to rediscover an iconic record and rethink our relationship with one of the inventions that has shaped — and continues to shape — our history. Curated by Carlo Emilio Zummo and Mario Esposito.
Taking centre stage in the exhibition is the iconic 1981 DeLorean DMC-12, designed by Giorgietto Giugiaro, together with a selection of sketches and ink drawings on tracing paper from the Italdesign Archive, chosen to tell the story of the creative process behind the car that has left its mark on the history of cinema and design. The car – characterized by flat surfaces, sharp edges, unpainted stainless-steel bodywork, and spectacular gull-wing doors – embodies the vision of a futuristic sports car, which has become the aesthetic expression of an era, to which today’s car designers continue to refer for its enduring modernity.
- DELOREAN
Ritorno al Futuro
On display are archival materials, illustrations and automobiles that guide visitors through a journey in which the songs of the album take shape within the exhibition space, intertwining historical memory, collective imagination and contemporary reflections on the role of the automobile in society.
In 1976, RCA released Automobili, the concept album by Lucio Dalla and Roberto Roversi dedicated to one of the defining symbols of modernity and the transformations of the twentieth century. Through music, words and imagery, the exhibition explores the contradictions embodied by the automobile: freedom and alienation, progress and crisis, myth and decline.
Fifty years later, Automobili remains strikingly relevant. In a present shaped by ecological transition, changing models of mobility and a renewed reflection on the relationship between humanity, technology and the environment, the album offers a powerful lens through which to interpret our time.
The exhibition features original materials from the archive of Antonio Bagnoli — Roberto Roversi’s nephew — including manuscripts, letters, theatre programmes, interviews, audiovisual materials and original song lyrics.
Alongside the documents, two automobiles — the 1932 Alfa Romeo Tipo B P3 and the 1967 Autobianchi Bianchina — trace the cultural evolution of the Italian automobile, from heroic and visionary symbol to everyday and contradictory presence within contemporary society.
- SUSPENDED
PROTOTYPES OF TIME
In the second part, on display are twelve works from the Suspended series by the artist Anri Sala, one of the most significant voices on today’s contemporary scene. Presented for the first time together in a museum, the works – twelve like the number of hours on a clock face – offer a powerful reflection on the suspension and fluidity of time: digital drawings of extraordinary beauty that meditate on the relationship between eidos and chronos, between time and space, between the visible and the impalpable passage of hours and minutes, which – while not giving certain proof of existence beyond mathematical measurement – nonetheless leave indelible traces on our lives.
- Exhibition
Hot Panda
1 October – 26 October 2025
Alongside the opening of the exhibition inspired by BACK TO THE FUTURE and the iconic DeLorean designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, the Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile presents Hot Panda, the project that photographer Bin Jia has dedicated to another masterpiece created by the Piedmontese designer: the Panda.
“In this work by Chinese photographer Bin Jia, the Panda is transformed from a symbol of the very idea of a utilitarian car into a machine for viewing. The subject of this gaze is contemporary Italy. Inevitably placed at the centre of the frame, according to a rigorous and repetitive principle that recalls mass production, the cars photographed by Bin Jia not only reveal the countless variations in model and colour developed over time, but also, and above all, the urban and natural environment that surrounds them: the streets, the architecture, the cities.
The Panda is a telescope, but also a time machine: its angular shapes collide with the signs of the most recent contemporary reality scattered across the landscape, triggering a kind of temporal paradox. Fiat Panda = DeLorean DMC-12. Hot Panda is a tribute to slowness, work, and simplicity (the Panda is an icon of all these values) at a time of fundamental change for the main actors of this project. Automobiles are being transformed, in response to the new challenges of mobility, ecological urgencies, new urban planning models, technological evolution, the availability of materials and components, and geopolitics. At the same time, photography is also radically changing, increasingly devoid of the surplus of objectivity that had guaranteed its success before the advent of digital and AI. Hot Panda is a new journey through Italy. On the other hand, in the original one Goethe wrote: “The purpose of this magnificent journey of mine is not to delude myself, but to know myself in relation to objects.”
(Francesco Zanot)
- SOUND
Sound Reconstruction of the Monaco - Trossi Engine
The installation recreates the sound of the legendary Monaco–Trossi engine, unheard since 1935, through a sophisticated audio reconstruction using cutting-edge neural synthesis techniques. The algorithmic sonification process, conceived and developed by MuseeX, combines a scientific and creative approach that integrates historical sources, engineering data, and generative models. The result is an immersive and realistic sound model that evokes the authentic voice of a car lost to time. Reliving the past through sound lies at the heart of MuseeX’s research: each project resurfaces what has been forgotten, hidden, or lost, transforming it into a soundscape that gives voice to memory.
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Acknowledgements
Carlo Felice Trossi. Unfinished Hero
Curated by Giordano Bruno Guerri
With Francesco Foppiano, Davide Lorenzone, Ilaria Pani
Artistic director Maurizio Cilli
Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile thanks all lenders:Andrea Ghisalberti, Lopresto Collection, Alex von Mòzer, STELLANTIS Europe SPA | HERITAGE (Museo Alfa Romeo), Mercedes-Benz Classic, Maserati Umberto Panini APS Collection, Museo Scooter&Lambretta, GAVS – Gruppo Amici Velivoli Storici – Tourin Section, R.E. San Giorgi, Yacht Club Italiano
Photo credits: Fondazione Sella, Fotografia dall’Archivio, Zagari © The Spitzley Archive, Varagine.it Historical Photographic Archive on the City of Varazze
Videos: Archivio Luce Cinecittà
We express our gratitude to Maurizio Fracassi for his valuable support and generous donation, through which the Carlo Felice Trossi archive has has been incorporated into the collection of the MAUTO Documentation Centre.
Special thanks to Gianluigi Ricuperati.
Project partners: Banca Generali Private, MuseeX
- BEYOND THE EXHIBITION
The catalogue
- PARTNERSHIP
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- PROJECTS AND MEETINGS
Public Program
Talks, screenings and opportunities for discussion as a corollary to the temporary exhibitions.
The Public Program completes the MAUTO cultural schedule and broadens the discussion on the subject of cars and mobility. A program that explores different languages and transversal approaches, opening up to a contemporary and transmedia discussion.
STORIES, VISIONS, SOUNDS. A calendar of meetings that alternates between conversations, editorial presentations, projections, musical and performance events: stories that embrace art, design, literature and current affairs; visual explorations ranging from auteur films to artist videos and documentaries; sound proposals that move between musical genres, with authors and performers, ensembles and soloists.
Some of the scheduled meetings – all free and upon reservation – develop from the themes addressed by the temporary exhibitions and research activities of the Museum’s Conservation and Restoration Centre and Documentation Centre.
