Recent years have marked dark days for the Alfa Romeo brand, but the fascination of Italian exotics overseas lives on. The Bella Italia Concours took place over the weekend with vintage and luxury Italian sports cars from Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini on display. While the event is organised by the Ferrari Owners Club of San Diego, the latter Italian brands are invited in recognition of their equally iconic status.

2011 is a big year for Italian supercars with the new Lamborghini Aventador having been released, and the original Ferrari FF four-seater shooting brake making an appearance. It will mark a new era for this world famous Italian icon being the first Ferrari model to get a boot and all-wheel drive. In the meantime, Alfa Romeo will make its way back to US shores, possibly with its first true sports car in a long time, the Alfa 4C GTA. Watch the video to see what went on show at the Bella Italia Concours in San Diego.

These travel Ferrari accessories give you the chance to have a little of the prancing horse style, without the expensive car. On the other hand, if you’re already the lucky owner of a Ferrari, these new Ferrari Store leather bags will look great draped over the passenger seat of your vehicle (or carried around the office to show just what you’ve got parked downstairs).

The new leather bags from Ferrari Store are designed to be practical but elegant luxury Italian accessories, with a computer case made from calf leather costing 1,250 euros. It has a CD pouch on the inside, an adjustable shoulder strap, a removable cord carrier case and a front compartment for pens, business cards and a calculator. The bag also comes in brown, in nubuck or smooth leather and also has a strap function at the back to be attached to a trolley suitcase.

The 48ore business briefcase and travel bag is perfect for short business trips. It’s made from smooth calf leather and costs 1,450 euros. The interior of the bag is divided in three parts, with two separate all-purpose compartments and a third “organised” sleeve for documents and other business needs. Both of the Ferrari bags carry the prancing horse logo and have contrasting stitching and zips and Ferrari print interior.

Yesterday, during his trip to Italy, the U.S. Senator John F Kerry stopped in Maranello to visit the Ferrari facilities. Here the American politician, who was the Democrat’s candidate for the U.S. Presidency in 2004, met his old friend Luca di Montezemolo .

The “prancing horse” president showed him around, thus giving the senator the chance to admire the latest Ferrari model, the FF. Mr. Kerry was then taken to the Fiorano track, where, helped by the famous car tester Dario Benuzzi, he tried the beautiful 458 Italia.

Source | Ferrari

Organised by Itama and MoMa Italia (its exclusive distributor here in Italy), the Itama Open Days event opened at Molo De Angelis in Porto San Ercole a few days ago; its open yachts, famous throughout the world for their elegance, refinement and that sporty touch which set them apart from the rest, will be on parade until April 17; the chief attraction of the event will be the famous models Forty, Fifty, Sixty and Seventy Five which are the four yachts more representative of the Itama style in the world, which is quintessentially Italian. This time, thanks to a collaboration with Sa.Mo.Car S.p.A, visitors will have the unique opportunity to get a closer look at a few Ferrara and Maserati models including the California and GranCabrio.

Italian design: Itama Open Days in Porto Ercole

Continue reading: Italian design: Itama Open Days in Porto Ercole

After the luxury Ferrari Opus book starting price of $4,100 USD, here is a Ferrari accessory you might be able to afford. The 2011 spring Ferrari clothing collection includes these leather jackets inspired by the interior of the cars the company makes.

With a decidely sporty look, these Ferrari leather jackets can be matched to jeans and other casual gear, or if you know how to dress it right, you could go more upmarket, too. They are designed to reflect Ferrari’s passion for motorsports and are made with the same attention to detail that Ferrari leather seats and stitching can boast.

The black leather jacket has been designed for men, while Ferrari has dedicated its more feminine light brown to women. The luxury Italian accessories can be bought in Ferrari stores for a price of about €790.

Let’s just say that Ferrari is like no other Italian brand - it combines high performance motorsports and luxury accessories and seems to have no problems doing so. The Official Ferrari Opus book is a case in point. The hefty book starts with a base model costing 4,100 USD. It has 852 pages and a total of 2,000 photographs and while a very exclusive Ferrari accessory with just 4,100 copies being produced, you might want to consider using it as a weight - it weighs about 37 kg and is about 50 cm tall.

The Ferrari Opus is bound in red leather and comes in a carbon fibre case. Each copy has been signed by Ferrari F1 drivers Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso. If you want to spend more than those four thousand dollars, you’ll have to upgrade to the Cavallino Rampante edition which contains a random selection of important Ferrari autographs. Only 500 copies of it will be made and it costs 7,000 USD.

Those previous two books start to pale in comparison to the rest of the Ferrari Opus collection pieces. The Enzo edition contains signatures from living Ferrari World Champions on a single silver-foiled sheet. 400 copies will be available at a price of 37,500 USD. But if that’s still not exclusive enough, get your wallet out for the diamond-studded Prancing Horse edition - after the jump.

Continue reading: The Official Ferrari Opus book with diamonds costs $275,000

This Ferrari 430 Scuderia by Laurence Gartel is valued at one million dollars. The Ferrari model, transformed to a work of art, has only gained in value as the 430 Scuderia is an exclusive automobile in its stock standard version. Gartel is known as the father of digital art, and he has explained his controversial Ferrari creation thus:

“The reason [behind the controversy] is understandable, but when a collector has more than ten supercars, you can start to evaluate the options. An artist isn’t someone who accepts the rules of society. Creative minds have changed the way we think. Imagine if there wasn’t Frank Gehry: architecture would be boring in our contemporary environment.”

After famous works of art, we can appreciate this Ferrari 430 Scuderia by Gartel for what it means to artistically reinterpret a world icon. See it in the video after the jump.

Continue reading: Ferrari 430 Scuderia by Laurence Gartel

A Ferrari hatchback? That’s what you could be thinking on seeing this new Ferrari FF which recently had its world premiere at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show. The model is called a shooting brake and is Ferrari’s first four-seater, boot-space family model. Not that we expect to see too many rich kiddies being taken to school in this model but you never know - if you live in the right neighbourhood, you just might spot one of these.

The Ferrari FF is a controversial model for the company, with a radical design not in keeping with its supercar roots. Still, there might be space for it in the line-up anyway - and the first FF models to production have already been sold out. It’s still too early to say whether this will mark a revolution for Ferrari with other models being spawned in the future, but for the moment it’s been much talked about. Read more from us at eurocarblog.com.

Benny Caiola’s Ferrari FXX Evoluzione has been sold for 2.1 million dollars. Famous for his large fortune and good heart, the late Benny Caiola - who left Sicily at the age of 17 for America where he quickly became a major building owner and developer - had a passion for cars, especially Ferraris which he collected throughout his life; but now sadly enough, after his death, many of these amazing roadsters are up for grabs.

Continue reading: Benny Caiola's Ferrari FXX sold for more than 2 million dollars

Lots of famous actors and singers have a passion for Ferrari roadsters; they love to drive around in their super cars and create a sensation wherever they go! Chris Brown, whose single “Run It!” topped the Billboard Hot 100, making Brown the first male artist to have his debut single top the chart since Montell Jordan in 1995, has an amazing Ferrari F430 which will make you green with envy! Take a look at the above picture!

Source | Autoloandaily.com