Mario Favilla, a friend and gentleman of car design, has left us. As soon as we heard the news, we leafed through some issues of Auto&Design from many years ago, not without sadness, finding images of him at the Alfa Romeo Style Centre where he had worked for forty years, until he became head of the brand’s Advanced Design. Years that saw him alongside creatives of the caliber of Ermanno Cressoni, Carlo Giavazzi and in particular Walter de Silva, his lifelong friend.
Favilla became de Silva’s right-hand man (photo above) in the relaunch of Centro Stile in Arese, which in the 1990s was transformed from the sideline of the Fiat Group’s style to a laboratory of creativity in which the passion and pride for the brand, carried out by a small, cohesive and determined team, have known few equals in the history of car design. An environment that has also been able to develop young talents, including Wolfgand Egger, Simona Falcinella, Filippo Perini, Alessandro Dambrosio, Alessandro Maccolini, to name a few.
Mario Favilla has dedicated his time and experience to young people and their training. He was one of the creators of the University Master in Transportation & Automobile Design at the Politecnico di Milano, becoming deputy director and coordinator of the Car Design laboratory.
Walter de Silva today addresses his friend who is no longer with us: “We have adopted and enhanced, with the same unconditional love for Alfa Romeo, models designed by other designers, 164, 155, Spider and GTV […] The new Alfa Romeo Style Centre in Arese, functional, beautiful in every detail, led with the same passion as us by Carlo Giavazzi (stage name “Javes”) and made up of a very young Garibaldian team, full of enthusiasm … Then the exhibition “Necessary Beauty” in Barcelona, the Proteo with the congratulations of Gianni Agnelli, the Nuvola that Avvocato Montezemolo liked very much… And again, the 156 and 147, both Car of the Year… The 166, and your dazzling caricatures, your paintings of doors and windows of Tuscan houses and the marinas around your Livorno, but above all your jokes and last but not least your ability to make everyone love you”.
For the twentieth anniversary of Auto&Design, a quarter of a century ago, Favilla personally came to the editorial office to give us a gift made by the Arese team: a clay model of a section of the front end of the 166 with the legendary Alfa Romeo shield, which still welcomes those who come to visit us. And it always reminds us of his sympathy and kindness. Thank you, Mario.
Mario Favilla together with Fausto Brevi, Director of the Master in Transportation & Automobile Design, Politecnico di Milano
