Auto e Moto d’Epoca: a guide to Bologna’s classic-car fair.

The Piloti archive photographs show the attraction clearly: rows of sports cars share the event with model stalls, automobilia and vehicles far outside the supercar brief. That variety is a reason to come. A marque museum explains one manufacturer; a fair lets you see how different generations of enthusiasts keep their interests alive.

Our editorial choice is to treat the show as a day for discovery. Come with one subject you want to understand better — a model, a restoration problem or a period of design — and let it decide where you spend your first hour. A conversation that answers a real question will last longer than a hurried lap of every hall.

The organiser divides the event into cars and restorers, motorcycles, culture, and spare parts/model collecting/automobilia. Use the current exhibitor map to mark three priorities before you arrive. Hall assignments from an earlier visit are not a reliable plan for 2026.

Work through the most important exhibitors first, then leave an unallocated stretch for browsing. If travelling with friends, choose a meeting point and time rather than expecting everyone to move at the same pace. Someone hunting an obscure instrument and someone photographing Ferraris are having different, equally valid days.

Standard adult tickets for 2026 are €58 on Thursday, €35 on Friday and €27 for either Saturday or Sunday. Tickets cover only the chosen dates and allow a single entry each day; the organiser states that dates cannot be changed and tickets are not refundable. Check the final booking total and the conditions for any reduced-rate tickets.

A full day is our planning allowance, not a measured Piloti visit time. Two days make sense if you have appointments or a specialist shopping list. For a casual look, decide which part of the event matters most rather than paying for time you will not use.

For drivers, the organiser identifies the Bologna Fiera motorway exit and ring-road exits 7 and 8. Select an official event car park and save its entrance separately from the pedestrian entrance. A pin for the exhibition complex is too broad to be a useful final approach.

If your car is already settled at a hotel, consider rail to Bologna Centrale and the onward bus or taxi. The organiser lists buses 28, 35 and 38 from the station. With a low or heavily laden car, ask the parking operator about surface and access; no ramp or security assessment has been established for this guide.

Photograph stand names and make short notes beside the contacts worth keeping. If buying a component, confirm the part number, condition and return arrangement with the seller. Ask before photographing a private conversation or paperwork. The fair is a marketplace, so a displayed vehicle should not be assumed to be an authenticated example merely because it looks convincing.

Keep dinner in Bologna or the drive back to your base unhurried. Put a booked factory tour on another day: a fixed departure on the other side of the region takes away the freedom that makes the fair worthwhile.