The Ferraris started arriving at Casa Maria Luigia this morning. Cavallino Classic Modena — the spring continental complement to the Palm Beach winter Concorso — opens its sixth edition today, Friday, May 22, 2026, and runs through Sunday, May 24, in the green park of Massimo Bottura’s three-Michelin-star country estate just outside the city where Enzo Ferrari built the marque. For Palm Beach Cavallino regulars — and for any Borro family client who walked the Cavallino field at The Boca Raton this past February — this is the European bookend of the season most closely held by Palm Beach’s serious Ferrari collectors.
Cavallino Inc. has run the Palm Beach Cavallino Classic for 35 years and made the move from The Breakers to The Boca Raton starting in 2026, a move that gave the winter Concorso room to grow its lawn-side display and host slightly larger field sizes. The Modena edition, by deliberate contrast, has stayed small. Fewer than three dozen Ferraris will be invited onto the lawn at Casa Maria Luigia. The judges walk the field slowly. The owners linger by the pool. The Sunday-night awards dinner is set on the long table inside Osteria Francescana with a menu Bottura builds himself. That is the entire format. It is also the reason Palm Beach Cavallino’s most quietly serious entrants make the trip every May.
The format — and why Palm Beach collectors fly for it
Friday opens with a champagne reception at Casa Maria Luigia, which functions as both the on-site hotel for participating owners and the staging ground for the entire weekend. The Friday evening reception is the first time the field comes together, and historically it is the moment the cars get their last private walk-around before the Saturday judging begins.
Saturday is the Concorso d’Eleganza itself: by invitation only, with the field arranged across the manicured park grounds of the estate. Cavallino’s judging panel — drawn from Maranello specialists, marque historians, and senior Ferrari Classiche staff — works the field through the morning. The Saturday afternoon presentations are followed by the awards dinner in the evening, hosted inside Osteria Francescana with a bespoke menu by Bottura built around the awards announcements.
Sunday is the Tour d’Eleganza, when the owners take their cars out for a closed-route drive through the Modenese hills, lunch en route, and return to Casa Maria Luigia for a final farewell reception. The route is not published in advance. The point is the drive, the company, and the chance to put a freshly judged car back on the roads that originally validated the design.
What’s on the lawn this weekend
Cavallino’s Modena field is curated to span the full Ferrari catalog from prewar through modern hypercars, but the weighting always favors the historically significant. Past Modena editions have included 125 S examples from the very late 1940s, multiple 250 GT short-wheelbase Berlinettas, 275 GTB/4s with NART racing provenance, and 288 GTO and F40 examples with documented single-family ownership. The 2025 Modena edition — the fifth — set a new internal standard for quality with a field that included a 250 LM, a 250 GTO restoration that had not been publicly shown since the early 2010s, and the Le Mans-winning 499P hybrid prototype.
For the 2026 field, indications from the Cavallino registration desk and from owners’ WhatsApp groups point toward continued emphasis on:
1950s Tipo 250 cars. The 250 catalog — California Spider, GT Lusso, GTO, LM, SWB Berlinetta — remains the spine of the Cavallino Concorso wherever it shows. Expect at least four 250-derivative cars on the field, with the strongest probably staged closer to the judging stand on Saturday morning.
F40 and F50 examples with documented Italian-market provenance. The first-owner-from-Maranello F40 has become one of the most aggressively priced segments in the supercar market over the past 24 months. Modena is where those cars are confirmed.
The modern Icona series. Cavallino has been folding in carefully curated Monza SP1/SP2 and Daytona SP3 examples to bridge the prewar-through-modern arc. Expect at least one Daytona SP3 on the Saturday field.
Why this matters from Palm Beach
Palm Beach Loan tracks the European Concorso calendar specifically because the Modena field, the Villa d’Este field at Lake Como in late May, and the Goodwood Revival field in September are the three events each year where the value momentum on important Ferraris becomes most visible. The cars that show at Cavallino Modena — and especially the cars that win their class at Cavallino Modena — tend to appear at Monterey Car Week in August with documented provenance upgrades that move estimates. Watching Modena this weekend is, in effect, a way to front-run August.
For Palm Beach clients holding important Ferraris in season-end residence at The Breakers area, Worth Avenue garages, or out at Mar-a-Lago-adjacent estates, the late May into early June window is the cleanest moment of the year to assess whether to consign for Monterey, hold for the winter 2027 Cavallino at The Boca Raton, or borrow against the car for short-term liquidity needs heading into hurricane preparation and summer travel. Our office handles all three conversations regularly. Same-day evaluations on first-owner-documented Ferraris are available by appointment at the Palm Beach office.
The practical details
Cavallino Classic Modena. Friday, May 22 through Sunday, May 24, 2026. Casa Maria Luigia, Strada Saliceto Panaro, Modena, Italy. The Saturday Concorso d’Eleganza is by invitation only; participating owners and accredited press have field access. The Sunday Tour d’Eleganza is also restricted to participants. The Friday champagne reception and the Saturday awards dinner inside Osteria Francescana are by invitation and require advance confirmation through Canossa Events, Cavallino’s European operating partner.
Palm Beach Cavallino veterans who have been making the May trip for several years tend to coordinate flights into Bologna’s Guglielmo Marconi airport (40 minutes by car to Casa Maria Luigia). The Casa Maria Luigia itself is fully booked for participating owners during the weekend; the closest comparable hotels are in Modena center, with the Best Western Premier Milano Palace and the Hotel Cervetta 5 holding most of the spectator overflow.
For Palm Beach clients evaluating a Ferrari acquisition, sale, or asset-backed loan tied to the Modena results, our team will be tracking the weekend live and is available throughout the run.
Frequently asked questions
When is Cavallino Classic Modena 2026?
Friday, May 22, through Sunday, May 24, 2026, at Casa Maria Luigia in Modena, Italy.
Is Cavallino Classic Modena open to the public?
The core Saturday Concorso d’Eleganza is by invitation only. The Friday champagne reception, Saturday awards dinner at Osteria Francescana, and Sunday Tour d’Eleganza are also restricted to participating owners and invited guests. Tickets and registration inquiries route through Canossa Events.
How does Cavallino Classic Modena differ from the Palm Beach Cavallino Classic?
The Palm Beach Cavallino Classic is the original event, run for 35 years and now hosted at The Boca Raton each January or February. The Modena edition is a smaller, invitation-only spring complement held in Italy at Massimo Bottura’s Casa Maria Luigia, designed to bring Ferrari owners back to the marque’s home region for a curated weekend.
What kinds of cars are shown at Cavallino Modena?
Cavallino Modena fields span the full Ferrari catalog from prewar through current Icona-series hypercars, with historic emphasis on 1950s 250-series cars, the F40 and F50, racing prototypes including the Le Mans-winning 499P, and current Icona models such as the Daytona SP3.
Who is Massimo Bottura?
Massimo Bottura is the Italian chef behind Osteria Francescana in Modena, a three-Michelin-star restaurant repeatedly ranked among the world’s best. Casa Maria Luigia is his country estate just outside the city, and Cavallino Classic Modena is hosted on its grounds.