72 cars, six world premieres and the global debut of Helmut Newton Cars at Villa Olmo. A two-day celebration of German automotive culture on the shores of Como.
On May 16th and 17th 2026, FuoriConcorso returned to Lake Como with “KraftMeister”, a two-day exhibition spread across Villa del Grumello, Villa Sucota and Villa Olmo. After a 2025 edition dedicated to the visionary genius of Italian car culture, the curators shifted their gaze to a very different idea of excellence: German precision, engineering as a discipline, and a relentless pursuit of performance that doesn’t admit compromise.
Photos and Words by Yaron Esposito
“KraftMeister” is one of those untranslatable compound words German does so well, sitting somewhere between “master of power” and “force tamed by skill”. As an exhibition title it was perfect, summing up everything the event wanted to put on the lawns this year: technique sublimated into aesthetics, engineering elevated to a language.
The selection moved from the legendary Porsche endurance racers that wrote the Le Mans legend lap after lap in the rain and the dark, to the Mercedes-Benz icons that redefined what a Grand Tourer should be, with visionary prototypes that never reached production sitting alongside masterpieces of the great German tuning houses. Every car had been picked for its ability to embody a very specific idea: that real technical perfection, when it is authentic and deep, cannot help but become beautiful.
Across the weekend, six world premieres were unveiled across the villas, confirming Lake Como’s growing reputation as a privileged stage for the contemporary automobile. The biggest cultural news, however, came from Villa Olmo: the world premiere of “Helmut Newton Cars”, a brand-new exhibition gathering for the first time 38 previously unseen works in which the great Berlin-born master photographed the automobile throughout his career. The show will remain open to the public for 45 days with free access.
The numbers tell the rest of the story: 72 cars on display, 6 world premieres, 16 automotive partners and 19 lifestyle and technical partners, all gathered in venues whose centuries-old gardens and neoclassical architecture feel made to host this kind of celebration.
As the last engines fell silent on Sunday evening, it was hard not to feel that familiar lake-side mix of satisfaction and impatience. KraftMeister was another confident step forward for FuoriConcorso, broader in scope and richer in cultural ambition than ever before. We’ll see you in Como next year for the next chapter, and we already can’t wait to find out what story Lake Como will tell us in 2027.
Photos by Tobias Kressmann
