Contrary to order, Asti will not have its Motor Show this year. It should have been the second edition after the positive debut last year. A much larger second edition, organized once again by Claudio Rossi from Alessandria who worked for over six months on every detail: the location, the involvement of at least eleven participating clubs (including those of motorcycles and vintage cars ), street food and, last but not least, promotion.
The Motor Show should have been held on 15 and 16 June in the Piazzale De André area, in the former Caserma Colli di Felizzano, in a part of Corso Alfieri, but also in a portion of Piazza Alfieri and surrounding areas. «But, less than two months after the event, the municipal administration backed out and removed the use of the spaces in Piazzale De André, giving me Piazza d’Armi as the only alternative – says the organizer of the Motor Show – Una decentralized square, very sunny which even our sponsors, the car dealerships who supported the event, consider completely inadequate. So, given the situation and the sacrifices, I couldn’t do anything but cancel the event and throw away six months of work. I have been organizing events for years, in Alessandria I was able to organize sporting events in the Citadel for eleven years, but it is the first time that a situation like this has happened to me and as far as I’m concerned I’m done with Asti.” Goodbye Motor Show, at least the one organized by Claudio Rossi.
Contacted by phone to comment on the situation, Rossi does not hold back, without any polemical tone, but remaining on the facts. The organizer had as contact the Councilor for Commerce Mario Bovino and also Ascom which, at least at the beginning, seemed to be convinced of the validity of the operation. «But about two weeks ago – Rossi recalls – they told us that they couldn’t give us the center due to traffic issues. So we asked to at least use Piazza del Palio, but this too was not available because it will already be occupied by the unified market. Yet last year Piazzale De André was granted to us without these problems.”
Previous motorsport events downtown
But if the Motor Show in the center was really “blocked” for traffic reasons, would it become a precedent for future events related to the world of motoring? This is unlikely to be the case even in light of what the Rasero administration has authorized in the recent past. In April 2022 Piazza Alfieri hosted the first City of Asti Ferrari rally; in July 2022, around one hundred historic cars arrived in Piazza Alfieri as part of an event organized by CAMEA, in collaboration with the municipal administration and Coldiretti; in September 2023, again in Piazza Alfieri, there was the 13th edition of the vintage car and motorbike exhibition, also in this case organized by CAMEA to coincide with the National Vintage Vehicle Day.
Without considering the most important event, which took place in June 2023, when on the occasion of the 1000 Miglia Piazza Cattedrale was transformed into a showcase of excellence to be the theater of the Ferrari Tribute. Councilor Mario Bovino, asked about the case, chose not to comment. Claudio Rossi, however, confirms that “his” Motor Show will no longer be held in Asti, even if the administration were to change its mind again: “With this administration – he concludes bitterly – I really don’t think about doing anything again”.
[nella foto un momento della prima edizione del Motor Show nell’ex Caserma]
