Renovated Alfa Romeo museum ready for visitors

Alfa Romeo marked its 105-year anniversary by reopening its historical museum, named ‘La macchina del tempo’, located in Arese, Italy.  The museum has a bookshop, a café, a documentation centre, a test-drive track and a showroom with a customer delivery area, and will be open to visitors every day.

The museum is home to the most significant displays of cars and engines from Alfa Romeo’s history, from the early 1960s onwards. The museum has a permanent display of 69 vehicles, including the very first model of the brand – the 24 HP, the Mille Miglia winner 6C 1750 Gran Sport, the 8C coach-built by Touring (The Disco Volante) and the Gran Premio 159 “Alfetta 159”, from the Giulietta, iconic 1950s car, to the Championship 33 TT 12.

The museum has been divided into three themes — Timeline, Beauty and Speed. Each theme gets a dedicated floor in the museum.

Timeline, occupies the entire first floor and has a selection of 19 cars which best represent the development of the brand with support from a multimedia information panel. The exhibit is completed by an "interactive memory", a smart-tech station where visitors can access the system for more details of the models.

Beauty, gets the ground floor and features several themed areas. The layout has been designed with dynamic and smooth lines that recall the style of the major Italian coachbuilders. The focus here is design, presented through various themes such as ‘Masters of style’, ‘The Italian school’, and ‘Alfa Romeo and cinema’. It also features several Giulietta and Giulia models.

The third theme dedicated to Speed, stretches across the entire sub-ground floor. This is the most exciting area, where Alfa Romeo enthusiasts can meet the stars; cars that Tazio Nuvolari and Juan-Manuel Fangio raced in around the world, like the 6C 1750 Gran Sport that won the Mille Miglia in 1930 and the Alfetta 159, Formula 1 world champion in 1951.

The museum was established in 1976 and was open to visitors by reservation only. After the decommissioning of the production plant in Arese, the museum was closed in 2009.