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Bentley reunites with the exclusive motoring community in Italy, bringing together performance, heritage, art and contemporary car culture in the hills above Lake Maggiore.
There is a particular kind of automotive gathering where the cars are only part of the story. The setting, the people, the design and the culture surrounding them become equally important, creating an environment in which a historic racing machine can sit comfortably alongside a modern performance car and an artistically transformed grand tourer.
That was the atmosphere surrounding Bentley’s latest collaboration with Tutto Bene in Italy. Following the success of their first encounter during Monterey Car Week, Bentley returned to the community just two months later, this time to the hills above Lake Maggiore, where the Tutto Bene Hill Climb brought together cars, culture and design in front of a crowd of thousands.
The setting was Mottarone, overlooking Lake Maggiore and the town of Stresa. Its six-kilometre hill climb offers a different interpretation of performance, with the event judged not simply by speed but by style and a sense of fun. Developed in collaboration with LA’s Race Service and Italy’s BorromeodeSilva, Tutto Bene has cultivated a community that reflects a more contemporary understanding of car culture, one in which design, personality and conversation are as important as outright performance.
Two Generations of Bentley Performance
Among the cars taking to the hill were two particularly contrasting expressions of Bentley performance. The “FULL SEND” Supersports, previously driven around Bentley’s factory by Travis Pastrana, shared the course with the 2018 Pikes Peak Bentayga, bringing together a machine created for extreme modern performance and an SUV with its own remarkable motorsport history.
Their presence was significant because neither car represents performance in quite the same way. The Supersports carries the drama and aggression associated with Bentley’s contemporary performance ambitions, while the Pikes Peak Bentayga remains a reminder that Bentley’s interpretation of capability can extend far beyond the traditional grand touring environment.
At Mottarone, however, the emphasis was not on reducing either car to a set of numbers. The hill climb allowed both machines to become part of an experience built around the character of the automobile itself.
When the Flying Spur Becomes Art
Away from the course, Bentley’s relationship with design became even more apparent.
At Bar Stazione, the central hub of the event, the marque displayed a special Flying Spur featuring a glow-in-the-dark livery created by Welsh artist Deathspray, also known as David Gwyther. As daylight faded, the artwork emerged with a different visual presence, transforming the luxury saloon into something that occupied the space between automobile and installation.
The Flying Spur was joined by the Bentayga X Concept, originally revealed at the FAT Ice Race in January, and the 2003 Le Mans-winning Speed 8. Together, the cars created an unusually broad portrait of Bentley, moving from contemporary experimentation to motorsport heritage and from luxury road cars to performance-driven design.
That mixture is central to the appeal of Tutto Bene. The event does not require automotive culture to exist within a single category. A Le Mans-winning prototype can share the same environment as an artistically reimagined Flying Spur because both contribute to a wider conversation about what makes a car culturally significant.
A 1926 Bentley on Isola Madre
The oldest Bentley at the event offered perhaps the strongest connection to the marque’s history.
“Smoky”, an original 1926 Super Sports, joined an exclusive drivers’ dinner on the private island of Isola Madre. The car had spent the summer with Bentley Motors, appearing dynamically at events including the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Monterey Car Week while supporting the launch of the new Supersports.
There is something particularly compelling about seeing a car approaching its centenary being treated not as a museum object, but as an active participant in contemporary automotive culture. Smoky’s presence alongside Bentley’s newest machinery illustrated how heritage can remain relevant when it is experienced rather than simply preserved.
The contrast also reinforced the breadth of Bentley’s identity. From a 1926 Super Sports to a Pikes Peak-winning Bentayga and a glow-in-the-dark Flying Spur, the cars represented almost a century of changing ideas about performance, luxury and design.
A More Social Definition of Luxury
Bentley’s involvement with Tutto Bene reflects a broader change taking place within luxury automotive culture. The traditional motor show has been supplemented by gatherings where the automobile is experienced within a carefully curated social and cultural environment.
That approach suits Bentley particularly well. The marque has always occupied territory between performance and luxury, but events such as Tutto Bene allow that identity to be expressed without the formality of a conventional product presentation.
Here, the car becomes part of the landscape rather than the entire landscape.
Above Lake Maggiore, Bentley’s latest appearance demonstrated that contemporary automotive luxury can be as much about community and cultural relevance as it is about engineering. The cars provided the spectacle, but the setting, art, history and people gave the occasion its character.
