Vicenza Classic Car Show

Vicenza is Palladio's city. The Veneto market town between Verona and Padua gave the architect his name and his proving ground, and its centre is still a catalogue of his work, from the Basilica on Piazza dei Signori to the Teatro Olimpico. It is not a place anyone associates with cars, which is part of what makes the Fiera di Vicenza an unexpected fixture on the Italian spring calendar.

The show returns to the Italian Exhibition Group halls from 19 to 21 March 2027, earlier in the month than the previous edition. The format is the one it has settled into: exhibition halls arranged as a walk through the century, from fifties and sixties icons to the youngtimers and instant classics now driving the collector market, with ACI Storico and ASI registries on hand and a parts market that has grown each year. Recent editions have drawn auction houses scouting the spring season, with Broad Arrow bringing cars to Vicenza ahead of the Villa d'Este sale.

The strength here is proximity. This is a working fair, not a concours, and the cars sit close enough to read panel gaps and weld lines, with private sellers and dealers occupying the same floor. That also sets the ceiling: it is a regional show with regional ambitions, closer in spirit to a serious swap meet than to Rétromobile, and worth the trip for the hunt rather than the headline metal.

The reason to extend the visit is the ground around it. North of the city the Strada del Pasubio climbs toward Pian delle Fugazze through a sequence of tunnels and switchbacks cut into the rock, and the road up to the Altopiano di Asiago offers a cleaner, faster climb onto the plateau. To the west, the eastern shore of Lake Garda and the Gardesana sit within an easy morning, and the roads through the Colli Berici south of Vicenza make a quiet warm-up before any of it.