Rolls-Royce this week unveiled its latest one-off commission, the Phantom Inspired by Cinque Terre, which draws its inspiration from the Italian Riviera and its winemaking tradition.
The Cinque Terre—Italian for "five lands"—is composed of the fishing villages of Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore, located on the coast of Liguria in northern Italy. They're known for picturesque terraced vineyards overlooking the Mediterranean.
Rolls-Royce tried to channel the atmosphere of the Cinque Terre with various bespoke elements on the Phantom sedan, including a paint color appropriately named Ligurian blue. It's accented with a hand-painted double pin stripe of Navy Blue and Jasmine, including some hand-painted grapes.
The interior is finished in Grace White and Navy Blue leather with Jasmine accents. A grape-branch design is embroidered on the rear door panels, with each piece requiring 9,215 stitches made using two different techniques. The grapes in the design are embroidered in satin stitch, with threads aligned at the angle at which light strikes their surface to give them a shiny finish. The grape leaves were made with a tatami stitch, creating a flatter finish.
Rolls-Royce Phantom Inspired by Cinque Terre
The same grape design used with the exterior pin striping is repeated on fold-out picnic tables, made from stainless steel and gold plating. The Phantom also features Rolls' signature Starlight Headliner depicting a map of Italy made from 14,338 individual lights. Five stars represent the Cinque Terre villages.
Rolls-Royce filled the gallery on the Phantom's dashboard with artwork representing an amalgamation of the Cinque Terre villages. The composition was first digitally sketched, then hand-airbrushed using water-based acrylic paint, and sealed with multiple coats of clear lacquer. The villages are also shown in a silver debossing in the glovebox.
Rolls-Royce Phantom Inspired by Cinque Terre
Rolls-Royce's bespoke builds generally don't focus on mechanical changes, so the powertrain wasn't touched. The Phantom is motivated by a twin-turbocharged 6.8-liter V-12 producing 563 hp and 664 lb-ft of torque. Power is sent to the rear wheels via an 8-speed automatic transmission.
Rolls-Royce claims the Phantom Inspired by Cinque Terre won't be replicated, but it won't be long before we see another extravagant one-off from this most decadent of automakers.
