During the recovery of historical memory of Cisitalia not only valuable information in the form of literature has emerged, but also other small treasures in which Cisitalia is the protagonist and which we would like to share with you here. They are a part of the Cisitalia magic and legend.

Dall’ Automobile all’ Arte

Catalogue of the “Eight Automobiles” exhibition, MoMA 1951

The CISITALIA 202, designed by Pinin Farina, was the first car to become part of the Museum of Modern Art of New York (MoMA), the most prestigious modern art museum in the world.

In autumn of 1951 the museum held an exhibition on car design and aesthetics called ‘Eight Automobiles’. It was there that the famous expression ‘Rolling Sculpture’ was born, coined by Arthur Drexler, the influential curator of the MoMA’s Department of Architecture. Both ‘Rolling Sculpture’ and ‘Monolithic Sculptural’ would remain unofficial Cisitalia 202 slogans for the rest of its days.

When the exhibition ended, the MoMA decided to keep the CISITALIA 202 as part of its permanent collection.

Just like other great icons, the Cisitalia 202 appears in the world of philately, on the stamps of various countries.

Stamps from several countries featuring the Cisitalia 202

The name Cisitalia amassed a huge amount of fame in those years. It was even on national lottery tickets.

1948 Italian national lottery ticket featuring the Cisitalia

Like all grand legends, Cisitalia entered the world of cinema. The most notable films the company’s cars featured in are:

  • 1950“Cronaca di un amore” [Chronicle of a Love] - Michelangelo Antonioni. Starring Lucia Bosé and Massimo Girotti.
  • 1962“Il sorpasso” [The Easy Life] - Dino Risi. Starring Vittorio Gassman, Catherine Spaak and Jean Louis Trintignant.
  • 1987“The Sicilian” - Michael Cimino. Starring Christopher Lambert, John Turturro and Richard Bauer.