Some of the finest performance cars on planet earth are products of Italy, but what comes to mind if asked about the best Italian iconic supercars out there? For the average enthusiast or hobbyist, the list justifiably includes the Lamborghini Murcielago, Ferrari F12 TdF, Bugatti EB110, Maserati MC12, Pagani Huayra, and the Pininfarina Battista. No wonder “Bel Paese” (Beautiful Country) is Italy’s nickname.
However, a true gearhead knows a certain name that rightly belongs in this list is missing, perhaps because it’s a comparatively young brand — the Italian-born-and-bred Mazzanti Automobili founded 20 years ago. Mazzanti is a proudly-Italian brand, as demonstrated by the Italian colors at the top of its logo and the word ‘Pisa’ in the bottom-right corner in reference to its Tuscany roots.
It’s one of the few brands around the world injecting fresh air in a market-driven industry at the expense of creativity and ingenuity. Its 41-year-old founder, Luca Mazzanti, has a burning passion for motorsport and, of course, classic sports cars. Despite not being as popular as the Lamborghinis and Ferraris, savvy collectors and enthusiasts around the world see Mazzanti as “a unique opportunity to own one of the rarest hypercars in the world.” Let’s check it out.
A Short History Of Mazzanti Automobili
The Italian automaker Mazzanti Automobili specializes in handcrafted high-performance cars. It was originally founded as Faralli & Mazzanti (F&M) in Gello di Pontedera, Italy, in 2002 by the duo of Luca Mazzanti, a supercar design and development specialist, and Walter Faralli, a specialist in classic car restoration.
Both Faralli and Mazzanti share a passion for car racing and Italian sports cars. It started as a restoration shop but also offered very limited edition hand-built exotics such as the 2006 Faralli & Mazzanti Antas V8 GT. The F&M Antas is an extremely beautiful car inspired by historic custom supercars, as exemplified not only by its design but also the materials used, such as the hundred-percent hand-built aluminum body.
Owners took delivery of their Maserati-sourced V8-powered Antas tourer with a beautiful case covered in matching blue velvet color. A silver plate with the car’s identification numbers came with the Antas as well as a photography book and DVD documenting the construction of the vehicle. Notably, despite its classic Berlinetta design highlighted by its long, sweeping hood, the V8-powered Antas delivered fantastic modern performance.
But as Geoffrey Chaucer wrote, “But at the laste, as every thing hath ende,” Faralli eventually split from F&M in 2010 to form Faralli Restauri, while Mazzanti continued doing what he knows how to do best — designing and developing incredible looking performance supercars.
Mazzanti Automobili Is One Of Italy’s Best-Kept Secrets
If you never heard about Mazzanti Automobili, what you’re about to read will leave you wondering if there is some sort of conspiracy to keep this Italian brand a secret. After the Faralli/Mazzanti split in 2010, Faralli concentrated on his classic car restoration specialization while Mazzanti created Mazzanti Automobili specifically to design and develop hypercars.
Sure enough, Mazzanti introduced the Mazzanti Evantra the very next year, although the project had been in development three years prior. Evantra premiered as a production supercar starting in 2013 and was so advanced that when the new “hypercar” classification got created in 2018, the Evantra was then designated a hypercar.
Limited to just five production units per year, the Evantra is so highly customizable to meet individual client requirements and the driving position is accurately configured according to the measurements of the customer – a bespoke treatment usually reserved only for the most prestigious racing cars or the finest tailored suits. For this reason, the Evantra project is the go-to for collectors and enthusiasts who prioritize exclusivity.
As the founder is an experienced designer and developer himself, customers value the opportunity to have Mazzanti’s unique touch in the interior of their Evantra. Luca Mazzanti can be impressively described as the founder, creator, designer, developer, tester, and “do everything man” at Mazzanti Automobili. Apparently, the brand isn’t just about aesthetics and the Evantra’s spec sheet is quite impressive, but more on that later.
Mazzanti Automobili’s Philosophy
Put simply, we can determine a company’s philosophy from its values and the value added to its customers through its products or services. It’s “The way we do things around here” formal and informal belief system. In that light, Mazzanti Automobili’s philosophy is rather glaring, even if it leads down a more demanding path not widely taken.
There’s nothing so simple about designing and developing bespoke supercars that rank as the best Italian sports cars, even if only a few people know about them. The easy part is setting up shop on a Tuscany street and getting recognized as an Italian automaker. But then comes the part of building handmade supercars, with an emphasis on handmade.
Mazzanti doesn’t run a robotized facility. This means every angle, curve, and air duct of each of the five cars they make in a year is intricately and meticulously designed, engineered, and then finished by hand. Instead of robots, you have a team of talented technicians who share a common passion for cars handling everything, including the hand-hammered aluminum and precisely crafted carbon fiber body.
Mazzanti Automobili Models: The Evantra Project
The personal touch distinguishes Mazzanti by miles, from its counterparts who roll out thousands of cars. Instead, that bespoke treatment of sitting down with a customer to go through everything together, from the perfect interior to the perfect color and everything else that improves the car’s uniqueness to the customer, sets the small Italian brand apart.
The result is that no two Mazzanti supercars or hypercars are exactly the same, a level of customization only experienced from the hand-built Mazzanti Evantra Pura and its sub-models. Bigger brands like the Bugatti Divo may offer a similar service on certain occasions, but this is what Mazzanti Automobili lives for — every year.
Mazzanti’s brands currently include the Evantra Classic, Evantra 771/781, Evantra Millecavalli, and our favorite, the $1 million Evantra Pura. The full-bodied Evantra weighs an impressive 2,866 lbs, propelled by a naturally aspirated 6.2-liter GM-derived V8 engine and mated to a six-speed semi-auto transmission to churn out an asphalt-burning 761 horsepower and 671 lb-ft of torque.
The mill is specially modified in-house at Mazzanti, allowing the Evantra to travel over 220 mph and race from 0 to 60 mph in 3 seconds. The $2.4 million Millecavalli features a twin-turbo unit that makes over 1,000 horsepower and a top speed above 250 mph. Don’t stop wondering why you didn’t know all this about Mazzanti.