Features

Girls in Valentino and men in Armani prance and preen, catching their reflections in the dark tungsten exterior. George Clooney could walk past from his villa just up the lake and no one would take their eyes off the car.

The 101EX is not the only concept on show. Aston Martin's four-door Rapide, which was the star of the Detroit auto show in January, sits alongside the Italdesign Ferrari 50GG - Giorgetto Giugiaro's present to himself, celebrating his 50 years as a designer.

The Carrozzeria Zagato-designed Ferrari 575 GTZ and the Alfa Romeo 8C Spider also attract admiring crowds. The flashiest concept is the Moscow-built, Mercedes-powered, Russo Balt Impression, which blends - not too successfully - an aerodynamic front with 1930s Art Deco design.

But the 101EX is the fairest of them all. Perhaps it's the car's great personality. Only Rolls could opt for naff two-tone and get away with it by using brushed aluminium instead of a light paint job to offset the dark flanks.

Maybe it's the knowledge that the hexagonal-framed underside of the bonnet is machine-tooled to the last millimetre - even though only a handful of people will ever see it. Perhaps it's the sculptural chrome tailpipes which Ian Cameron, Rolls-Royce chief designer, likes so much, he uses one as a vase at home.

Or maybe it's simply the way the olive-skinned brunette steps forward out of the coachdoors and walks to the swimming pool at Villa d'Este which, instead of being on land, floats on a wooden pontoon on the lake itself. Like Rolls-Royce drivers, she has no worldly cares. Her day is dictated by nothing other than style and indulgence, sun and wind.

Cameron strolls past, pauses and declares the 101EX to be the most beautiful Rolls-Royce. "Rolls-Royce is about the quest for the best and just look at this!" he grins. "It has heritage, power and engineering excellence.

It has a great sense of fun. These are not qualities that exotic sports car manufacturers have to themselves. These are firmly part of the tradition of Rolls-Royce. I'm having too much fun."

Victor Muller, the lawyer-turned-entrepreneur-turned-chief-executive of Spyker Cars, the Dutch high-end sports car company, agrees. Staring out over the bonnet of his 1929 Rolls-Royce Sports Phantom that was originally built for the Maharaja of Kashmir, he says: "It is a celebration of design."

And what a celebration. Sitting in the best of British luxury in a country which has cornered the market in charm, the possibilities seem endless. Where shall I go? What shall I do? A holiday romance with a raven-haired Vespa vamp? A night at La Scala? A glass of Barolo in Tuscany?

When it is time to leave, I drive out past ranks of foreigners arriving in the latest 'must drive' Italian cars. Ah, sweet, deluded fools! Don't they know the old ones are still the best? Cento per cento. When it comes to romance, history, style and grandeur, the Brits always have done and, for my money, always will do it better. And they don't do it better than the 101EX.

John Arlidge