Come with Me to a Secret Car Show in Milan, Italy

Ferraris, Citroëns, and station wagons—all are welcome at the Piazza Affari.

Elana Scherr|Car and Driver On a recent trip to Milan, Italy, I arrived hours before the hotel check-in. Rather than fight jet lag in the lobby, I decided to try to track down a car show I'd heard about somewhere in the middle of town. The Piazza Affari meet, or "Quelli di Piazza Affari," is a grassroots gathering of classic and modern machines that comes together every Sunday in a courtyard outside the Italian stock exchange building. The businesses are all closed on Sunday, so instead of finance fratelli, the cobblestone square fills up with Alfa Romeos, BMWs, Lancias, Ferraris, Ford station wagons, and turbo Porsches. There's no predicting what you'll see, and there's no hierarchy once you're there. An F40 will be parked next to a 928. A Mustang will share the curb with a Giulia.

My Italian is limited to pasta shapes, so I couldn't track down Carlo Vulnera, instigator of this democratic automotive gathering, but I was able to chat with him later via the Piazza Affari Instagram account. He told me that this particular meet has been going on for about a year, although other car clubs also used the area for shows in the past. His goal with the current event is to encourage the use of classic and collector cars, and also provide a chance for tourists and locals to stumble across the gathering and perhaps fall in love with a pretty grille or a rumbling V-12. Vulnera says the relaxed atmosphere makes people feel comfortable bringing out their cars and their kids, and adds his hope that it encourages more young people to consider a classic-car hobby.