fiat 501

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Museo Nicolis, Dell’Auto – Della Tecnica – Della Meccanica

Luciano Nicolis was born on the 19th of January 1933, the second of six children. At the age of 14, after school had finished for the day, he would cycle to Mantova to find and collect empty cement sacks discarded by the local stone masons. He would then resell them to the local cement company, sometimes carrying 300 empty sacks on the back of his bicycle.

It is no surprise then to learn Signor Nicolis went on to become a very successful industrialist in the field of paper recycling. Lamacart, the company he founded in 1963, is still a leading player in the recycling field today and remains family owned.

From an early age Luciano was fascinated by all things mechanical and technical, and he had a dream to one day open a museum dedicated to his fascinations. Luciano’s dream came true with opening of the Museo Nicolis in the year 2000. Located just a few minutes’ drive from Verona Airport in Villafranca, the Museo is a modern steel and glass structure housing Luciano’s private collection of 200 cars, 500 cameras, 100 motor bikes, 110 bicycles,100 musical instruments, 100 typewriters , 100 Formula 1 steering wheels, and on the roof of the building, three aircraft. Other than the aircraft most mechanical items still work. The cars are regularly maintained and are driven in many classic rallies and events.

Luciano died in 2012 but his passion lives on, His daughter Silvia is the president of the museum and the Nicolis family are very involved in the day-to-day running. During our recent visit, Luciano’s sister even served us a cafe Latta in the museum cafe. When asked about his collection Luciano would reply, “We are not the owners of all this, just the safekeepers for the future…”

Open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10.00 to 18.00

Viale Postumia – Villafranca di Verona (VR) – Italy – T. +39 045 6303289
info@museonicolis.com

Below are a few of the items we had a chance to photograph for our readers. As usual, cars are in alphabetical order.

I was surprised to learn that the coachwork on this 1925 Alfa Romeo RM was by Zagato. The RM used mechanical and chassis parts from the more expensive RL model. Powered by a 4 cylinder engine derived from the 6 cylinder engine of the RL the RM was designed more for the family man than sporting motorist.

Supplied as a rolling chassis to Australia this 1923 Alfa Rome RL Normale is fitted with bodywork by Martin and King coachbuilding of Melbourne Australia.

This Castagna-bodied supercharged Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 GTC dates from 1931. The paint applied when restored was mixed with fish scales as would have been the case when the car was first constructed.

Castagna of Milan bodied this 1933 Alfa Rome 8C 2300 (no other info available.)

In 1853 a university teacher by the name of Giovanni Ansaldo returned to Italy after spending time in Northern Europe and decided to form a company to manufacture steam trains and ships. By the middle of WW1, the company Gio Ansaldo & Co decided to go into car production. This example however predates that decision. Built in the company’s workshop in 1906, based on a Peugeot chassis with a monocylinder Peugeot engine, chain drive, and wheels with wooden spokes.