What color do you want it to be?

Alpha Red, Etna Red, Lipari Ochre, Clover Green...

There are several colors that, in the common imagination, are associated with Alfa Romeo automobiles: some are really distinctive and little known, such as the Montecarlo Blue of the GTV and Brera, while others are very common today but were once avant-garde, such as the Grigio Perla of the 156. 

Today, choosing the color of the car-including the interior-is something many people do on the Internet. All it takes is a configurator from the dealership or the parent company to immediately see a realistic reproduction of the car with the desired color.

Yet, there was a time when the choice of color and finish could only be made on catalogs containing color proofs and fabric samples of all kinds and hues. 

Museum founder Pietro Cozzi saw several of them pass by during his years at his dealership-could he not have kept them?

Thanks to his foresight we can browse through them today: follow us once again in the Cozzi.Lab archive !

Here we are in the secret archives of the Cozzi.Lab, where we keep the technical manuals and parts catalogs and color specimens of so many Alfa Romeo car models.

Evocative folders resurface from the past, such as these 145 and 146 interior upholstery catalogs dated 1997: the fabrics could be touched by hand, something that is possible but not obvious today (given the alternative of online configuration). 

The Alfa 156 catalog was also perfectly preserved: the blue velvet has defied the decades and still testifies to the quality of Alfa Romeo fabrics. 

Finally, we found a very special catalog: thanks to the ring binder, it was possible to superimpose car silhouettes on color samples to try endless combinations.

Watch the video! Brilliant, right?