Exotic Italian Cars On Display in Depot Square This Sunday

Car aficionados take note: on Sunday Tuckahoe's Depot Square will be filled with more than 70 luxury Italian cars—whose notable names include Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserti—as part of the Westchester Italian Cultural Center's Concorso d'Eleganza. The cars, along with a few vintage and rare motorbikes, are set to be on display from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.

"We are doing the event as a part of highlighting Italian culture," says Maria Masciotti, executive director of WICC, "Italian cars and motorbikes have a long history going back more than 100 years. History and culture are two of the pillars of the center's existence, so that is why we are doing the car show."

As part of the "contest of elegance" the cars will be judged in a variety of categories including Outstanding Competition Car, People's Choice and Best in Show. To score high marks owners must exceptionally meet various criteria.

"The judges will be looking for several items in choosing the best car for each category: they must be rare, well preserved or an accurately restored vehicle with historic value," explains Masciotti.

The judging committee for this first annual show include those well versed in Italian sports car culture: Giacomo Ciaccia of Universal Autosports in Glen Cove, Frank and Santo Spadaro of Domenick's European Car Repair in White Plains, Joe Izzo of J &B Body Works in Mt. Vernon and collector Bob Pfister.

"We expect several hundred people to attend the event, designed to showcase Italian art, style, and engineering. We have now opened up this fantastic event to the community-at-large, so we welcome the public to come out and enjoy this," Masciotti says.

And while parents admire the sports cars, kids can stay busy with face painting, sand art, temporary tattoos and other arts and crafts. Locally based DJ Serg will be on hand to keep the music going and a variety of food will be provided from restaurants including Angelina's Restaurant, Chat American Grill and Artuso's Bakery, according to Masciotti.

Suggested cost of admission is $10 for adults, with proceeds benefiting WICC's children's programming—which includes Italian language classes for a variety of age groups. The event is free for kids 12 and under.

"As the only organization in the area offering Italian language courses to pre-school and young school children it is important that we keep our class fees low. At the same time, it is especially important that we keep our class sizes small. Raising funds helps us achieve this dual goal- smaller classes and greater value to parents," says Masciotti.

For more information on the event, visit www.westchesterconcorso.com.