Concorso Italiano 2026

Story by Brandes Elitch
Photos by Daniel De Gallo

It gives me great pleasure to tell you that the Concorso Italiano is back and better than ever.

I attended the very first one, which I think was 40 years ago if that is possible, kind of a trial balloon, launched by Francis Mandarano at the Carmel Mission Inn, in a shopping center complex right next to Route One and just down the street from the Mission.

I think Francis was surprised by the amount of enthusiasm generated by the Maserati owners on site. There was a lot of excitement. So the next year he somehow established the event at the Quail Lodge resort in Carmel Valley, where it stayed for a few years. I attended every year and it was one of the best experiences I have had in fifty years of car collecting and going to car shows. It was truly the right crowd and no crowding, and the cars were ones that you would not likely see elsewhere, at least way back then, when the only real competing events were the Historics at the Laguna Seca racetrack and the Pebble Beach Concours.

For the first few years he kept the Ferraris at bay, but eventually yielded to them. Shortly thereafter the owners of the resort asked him to move, and it was replaced by a new event hosted by Gordon McCall, and now run by the Hongkong and Shanghai Hotel Group, certainly a far cry from what Francis wanted to create. The move from Quail Lodge to the Blackhawk golf course at the old Fort Ord really changed the tenor of the event, and it struggled a bit after that, particularly in the second or third year when they had to move because of work on the course, and it took place at a local airport, where there was a dust storm that day!

Now there are so many events during Car Week, probably thirty over a ten-day period, that it is much more difficult to start and run an event now, given all the competition. But somehow, Chairman Tanya Kosta has managed to pull that off this year and has gotten the Concorso back on track, in spite of all the other competing events and distractions that abound. I am sure that this took an enormous amount of time, energy and talent, and I don’t think I would have had the fortitude to do it, but Tanya did, and she gets full marks here, I am happy to say. We should also recognize Samantha Tobias, the Director of Events, and Abbie Ginther on her team. Someone told me that about 4000 people attended it, which is spectacular.

As I remember, last year Tanya saved the Concorso at the last minute. An Italian who had announced with great fanfare that he was going to buy the Concorso and reinvent it backed out at the last minute. Tanya stepped in and took charge, and we should remember that too.

She had a judging platform with ample seating, and importantly, a large array of food trucks which were very popular. There were a number of vendors on site, and a wide array of cars, although I focused on the Alfas. There were, of course, a lot of Ferraris as well; they seem to be everywhere this week. I also enjoyed seeing the Lancias, Maseratis, and Fiats too.

There were a hundred Alfas on the field! Many years ago, I once restored a Duetto from what was probably a parts car, and I was surprised to see so many – there must have been twenty at least.

Tanya made a serious and concerted effort to attract Alfa owners, and Bob Goldberg, the editor of the Alfa club magazine Overheard Cams, also made a strong pitch to the members. As a result, Alfa owners turned out in droves. This was extraordinary.

I have to give full marks to Tanya for the Concorso program this year. Frankly, I was surprised at the quality of it, fully 120 pages. There are fifteen comprehensive and authoritative articles on individual Italian marques. The program is a collector’s item.

I look forward to the Concorso next year and no doubt it will be even more successful. Below, a look at a tiny portion of the cars at Concorso this year through the lens of Daniel De Gallo. (Thank you Daniel!)