For the fifth consecutive year, Pirelli and Pirelli HangarBicocca commissioned an Italian artist to design the Monza Grand Prix trophies. In 2025, the commission was entrusted to Nico Vascellari, who created “Chimera”, a mythological hybrid creature that pays homage to the “Temple of Speed.”
The elongated sculpture merges features of the peregrine falcon (wings and talons), the sailfish (fin), and the cheetah (tail), the three fastest animals of air, water, and land. Rather than replicating the classical Chimera, Vascellari reinterprets the myth to embody speed, metamorphosis, and transformation, translating the tension of Formula 1 into a ritual object. “I wanted to create an idol for this temple, an object that honored its title while encompassing all kingdoms of the natural world,” explains the artist.
In this project, I was responsible for the 3D modeling of Vascellari’s design, developing the organic digital structure that served as the foundation for production. The process moved from sketches and collage to 3D printing in resin, culminating in the lost-wax casting of aluminum at the historic Fonderia Artistica Battaglia in Milan. The final trophy, weighing 4.5 kg, retains the classical aura of a celebratory object while extending asymmetrically in multiple directions, echoing the dynamism of racing itself.
Nico Vascellari was born in 1976, in Vittorio Veneto, Italy. Currently he lives and works in Rome, Italy. Some of his most significant exhibitions were held in Palais De Tokyo, Paris (2017); Accademia di Francia - Villa Medici, Rome (2016); Estorick Collection, London (2016); National Gallery of Arts, Tirana (2015); Skuc, Lubljana (2006); Viafarini, Milan (2006). He has also participated in the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007); Manifesta 7 (2008); 15th Quadriennale in Rome (2008); 12th Architecture Biennale in Venice (2010). His work has been exhibited in prestigious Institutions such as Museo del Novecento, Milan; Fondation Beyeler, Basel; Riga Art Space, Riga; La Maison Rouge, Paris; MAK, Wien; Kunsthaus, Graz; SongEun Art Space, Seoul.