A Gandini Exclusive at the MAUTO

Images: Hajer al Sayed @_artisqa, Gautam Sen

The National Automobile Museum of Italy – MAUTO – is paying a tribute to the visionary genius of Marcello Gandini with the exhibition Ultraleggera, A Design Journey with Marcello Gandini between Italy and Qatar.

As the exhibition moved to Turin to the MAUTO national museum the turnout for the inauguration on 19th of June was most impressive

Created in collaboration with the Qatar Auto Museum (QAM) and VCUarts Qatar (Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar), this exhibition offers a dynamic and contemporary interpretation of Gandini’s enduring creative legacy.

It fosters intergenerational dialogue that bridges the past, present, and future of design.

Almost a dozen of Marcello Gandini's masterpieces made it to the inauguration

Curated by Marzia Gandini and Simone Carena, a VCUarts Qatar professor and project co-creator, with content contributions by Gautam Sen, the exhibition runs from June 19 to August 31, 2025, in the Museum’s Project Room.

A fabulous Lancia Stratos HF was one amongst two on display

It presents a curated selection of Gandini’s original drawings, sketches, and models, alongside works by students exploring the concept of movement in physical, cultural, and creative dimensions.

A rare and very pretty early Lamborghini Urraco also made it to the inauguration

The exhibition aims to spark new perspectives and link tradition with innovation.

A four-day Summer School complemented the exhibition, emphasizing Gandini’s educational impact and influence on future generations of designers and creatives.

Amongst the many who graced the occasion, Gandini's good friend and longtime collaborator, the legendary Luigi Marmirolli who led Lamborghini for a dozen years posing with Mme Claudia Gandini Provera

To mark the opening, a special outdoor showcase featured eleven of Gandini’s most iconic cars, sourced from private collections. These included a Lamborghini Miura, an Alfa Romeo Montreal, a Lamborghini Urraco, a Fiat X1/9, a Maserati Khamsin, as well as a pair of Lancia Stratos HFs.

Taking to stage the team from Doha from left to right: Hala Alzawaydeh, Jameela Al Humaidi, Hajer Al Sayed, Fatima Al-haddad, Diya Koshy, Nada Abdo, Marzia Gandini and Simone Carena

Additionally, there was also a Ferrari Dino 308 GT4, a Mini De Tomaso, a Maserati Shamal, a Lamborghini Diablo, and a very early Lamborghini Countach LP400 Periscopio, which remains on display with the Gandini drawings.

Other prominent visitors included the editor in chief of the Italian classic car magazine Manovella's Roberto Valentini, FIVA Hall of Fame jury members Malcolm Forest from Brazil, Patrick Rollet from Paris (left), as well as FIVA President Tiddo Bresters, with Dr Alkindi Aljawabra, the Director of the Qatar Auto Museum, and Gautam Sen (middle); FIVA Secretary General Gian Mario Mollar, flanked by Bresters and Sen (right)

These cars drove to the famous Lingotto Track (above what used to be the Fiat factory for most of the last century), the site of the second Summer School day, and then drove to the nearby Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile, better known, as MAUTO.

The keynote address was by Benedetto Camerana, the chairman of MAUTO

Some of these models, such as the Lancia Stratos, the Ferrari Dino GT4, the Alfa Romeo Montreal, and the Lamborghini Diablo, may remain on display through June 29.

Hajer checking out Turin

The exhibition also includes rare and personal items from Gandini’s archive, such as a training sailboat designed for his nephew Pietro and a life-sized ‘flying carpet’ drawing of the Lamborghini Countach, printed on recycled sail fabric.

Jameela al Hummadi, Diya Koshy and Fatima al Haddad at the exhibition

Also on display are the ‘Ultraleggera’ table, crafted at VCUarts Qatar from repurposed boat construction panels and a prototype of Gandini’s innovative folding bicycle with full-sized wheels.

Earliier in the day, Lorenza Bravetta, the director of MAUTO, took the students through the concept of a museum

The star of the special exhibition on Marcello Gandini's Ultraleggera was a fabulous, very early Lamborghini Countach LP400 periscopio

An exhibition unlike most others, if you happen to be in the vicinity of the Turin area make it a point to visit the museum, which is arguably, one of the finest automobile museums in the world.

The day after the students moved to the studio of Marcello Gandini where Marzia Gandini, Simone Carena, Dr Alkindi Aljawabra and others lectured them