Narrating A 115-Year Legacy Of Italian Excellence, Lancia’s Docufilm ‘Elegance On The Move’

Talking with some of the big names from its past and present, ‘Elegance On The Move’ is a docufilm that rejoices a 115-year history of the Lancia brand.

Entitled ‘Dust and Stars’, this third and final episode of the docuseries tells the story of Lancia’s role in motorsport and in the world of cinema and communications.

Lancia’s chief executive officer, Luca Napolitano, remarked, “This third and final episode of the documentary film on the brand’s 115-year history starts off in the world of rallying, where it all began, then moves on to review the great successes Lancia achieved. These victories have given Lancia the most wins of any brand in rally competitions, with the Lancia Delta having won more awards in this field than any other car ever. But there is also another chapter in our history, the one that speaks of the great love felt for Lancia by millions of fans and enthusiasts all over the world, in cinema, the arts and communications in general.”

To bask in the occasion, Lancia’s chief executive officer met up with Sergio Limone, head of design and testing for HF Lancia Racing Team, and Marco Testa, president of Armando Testa.

They noted, when it comes to rallying, one cannot go without mentioning Lancia and the love felt for it all over the world thanks to it winning more rally competitions than any other manufacturer.

At which, it garnered an impressive haul of awards that has taken the brand to the Mount Olympus of motorsport.

E.g., fifteen World Rally Championships, three Constructors’ and Endurance World Championships, one Mille Miglia, two wins at the Targa Florio and once the Carrera Panamericana.

The memory then shifts immediately to the 1970s and ’80s, when legendary models, such as the Stratos, 037, and Delta dominated rallying for over 20 years.

HF Lancia Racing Team’s head of design and testing, Sergio Limone, commented, “Without Lancia, rallying could never possibly have been the sport picked by millions of fans and could never have taken over quite so many column inches. Lancia didn’t only dominate the world of competitions in technical terms, it also did so from a sporting perspective. Innovative cars, but also innovative solutions in terms of race management, the Lancia Racing Team was the first ever to change tyres during a special stage, to optimise tyre wear according to the type of surface they were used on. Another first. That's why Lancia is so well-loved all over the world.”

Detailing this superb repertoire further, Lancia’s sporting exploits go way back in time to the founder’s passion for competition and his wins in various races in the 1908-1909 season. 

However, once he started the company, he gave up competing and devoted all of his resources to designing road cars.

Then, between the 1920s and ’40s, Lancia cars owned by private customers would win various speed races, followed in 1951 by the Turin automaker’s official return to racing.

After a year later, the Scuderia Lancia team was established, ornamented with its emblem of a little elephant at a gallop.

In 1954 to '55, the Lancia D50 single-seater played a major role in Formula 1, ending its sporting exploits and marking Lancia’s withdrawal from racing. 

Later, in the 1960s, the Italian brand made an official return to competing in rallies and the Lancia Racing Team was reborn, with the little red elephant as its moniker and the initials HF (High Fidelity).

Moving on to the year 1974, it saw the official debut of the Lancia Stratos HF, the first car in the world to be designed specifically for rallying. 

Only 500 models of this car were ever built, as required for type approval in Group 4 and were created with a sole mission to be unbeatable on any terrain, i.e., tarmac, gravel, snow or race circuit.

Conceived without compromise, the Stratos HF therefore took on the Ferrari Dino 2.4-litre V6, which was agreed to by none other than Enzo Ferrari himself.

Its power and determination made it unrivalled as it won three consecutive World Championships in 1974, ’75 and ’76, and was retired from competitive racing in 1978.

Five years later, in 1983, another win at the World Rally Championship was added to the list, this time with the Rally 037.

Limone furthered, “The era of four-wheel drive had already begun, but the 037, with its rear-wheel drive was still the car to beat, even on dirt tracks, and was the only car that could compete with the Audi Quattro. The 037 was technically superior, so much so it made the Audi team suspicious. During the Sanremo Rally, they sent their own technician to one of our service points. The technician came by helicopter to check that the Lancia hadn’t been fitted with front-wheel drive on top. Actually, it hadn’t been. Another Lancia record, the 037 was the last two-wheel drive car to win a World Championship.”

Additionally, to follow the experience with the ultra-powerful cars in Group B, Lancia staked its claim with the four-wheel-drive Delta HF 4WD.

Thus, from 1987 and for the next six years, the Delta HF 4WD and its successors, the Delta HF Integrale and Integrale 16V, dominated the rallying scene.

The reward was ten world titles. Six in Constructors’ World Championships, four in its counterpart for drivers, and a total of 46 wins out of the 66 world racing contests they had taken part in.

Along with countless other victories in domestic races, the Lancia Delta won more than any other car in history.

Now comes the other side of its history. Lancia represents excellence and is well-loved all over the world, as a symbol of the Italian culture of ‘beauty and a job well done’. 

It has given rise to dream icons, selected by movie stars over the ages, by models, by international A-listers, and by writers and artists. 

Significantly, Lancia cars have featured in films that have gone down in history and in stylish, sophisticated communications dealing with social and cultural issues.

Armando Testa’s president and chief executive officer, Marco Testa, explained, “Lancia has been there for Italy through various historical periods, contributing its image to the invention of a lifestyle and to denote the ethos of Italy itself. From the streets to the cinema, from fashion and art to social responsibility, with unique and distinctive language, always full of character and elegance. The celebrities of yesterday and today’s endorsers have become the natural spokespeople for Lancia, always playing themselves, never acting out a role.”

Breaking it down, the relationship between Lancia and cinema is very close and dates back to the early days of the 20th century, when Lancia cars appeared in the first silent films made in Turin. 

Particularly, they were featured in the ‘telefoni bianchi’, also known as ‘white telephones’, 1930s Italian films in the style of the American comedies of the time.

Subsequently, in the late 1950s, the bond between the car brand and the ‘seventh art’ became unbreakable. 

This was the time of La dolce vita, in which Rome was the capital of cinema and the international jet setter.

Pulsating with life, Via Veneto’s chic addresses and luxury hotels became destinations for actors and writers, while politicians and VIPs met at the tables of its trendy cafes.

Many movie stars, including Claudia Cardinale, Anita Ekberg, and Jean-Paul Belmondo, would choose Lancia cars such as the Aurelia and Appia to whizz through the streets of Europe in style. 

One of the standouts among the great Italian actors of the time was Marcello Mastroianni, a big fan of cars, whose favourite was his Flaminia Coupé Super Sport Zagato. 

Brigitte Bardot also fell in love with Lancia and would drive its cars from Cortina d’Ampezzo to the Côte d’Azur. Namely the Aurelia B24, in the Flaminia, and later in the striking Flavia Convertible.

During the same period, Ernest Hemingway, 1954 Nobel Laureate in Literature, was also seen leaving France in an Aurelia B21, which became his travel companion for his work, ‘The Dangerous Summer’.

A few years later, the Aurelia B24 featured in ‘Dino Risi’s Il sorpasso’ (1962), making it the most famous car seen in Italian cinema.

Besides that, Lancia also featured the Fulvia Coupé in Dario Argento’s ‘Profondo Rosso’ (1975), and the Lancia Delta with Alain Delon in ‘Pour la peau d’un flic’ (1981). 

Not to forget, Lancia’s product placements in major movies, such as the Thema and Delta in Woody Allen’s ‘To Rome with Love’ (2012), and the Delta in Ron Howard’s thriller ‘Angels & Demons’ (2009).

Moreover, symbolising the Italian’s creativity and elegance, the Lancia brand also shines for its sophisticated advertising campaigns.

Showcasing refined, sometimes dreamlike flair, yet always respectful of the brand’s soul, elegantly portrayed in the adverts made by director Gabriele Muccino.

On top of that, the star-studded choice of spokespeople has also fostered the love for the Lancia brand and fed that passion.

From diva Catherine Deneuve to designer Stefano Gabbana, actors Vincent Cassel and Richard Gere, and supermodel Carla Bruni, who starred in the ‘City Limousine’ campaign for the Lancia Musa.

That said, this episode of the docufilm brings an end to Lancia’s journey through time, from 1906 to the present day. 

All in all, it discovers a brand that always remained in people’s hearts, for its glorious past of beautiful, innovative cars with a timeless design, symbols of Italian excellence around the world.