The Iconic Santorini cave hotel seemingly hangs over the rim of Greece’s famed volcanic caldera.
Why Go: Santorini wins travelers for its cliff-top views and whitewashed Cycladic architecture. Highlighting both is the new Iconic Santorini, a collection of 22 whitewashed rooms (from $540, including breakfast) that are literally carved from former cave homes and shops in the quiet village of Imerovigli. The hotel opens for the season in April with a restaurant, a small gym, and a spa. Blue-domed churches and ch…

This Easter, Fabergé will debut a limited-edition Spiral Tassel Pendant (price available upon request), which will be available only at Harrods in London from April 1 to 21 for the exhibit A Fabergé Easter at Harrods. The necklace features a gemstone tassel that can be finished with vibrant amethyst, tsavorite, or spinel trickling down from diamonds set in a spiral to form the shape of an egg. The pendant, whose spiral design is meant to symbolize transformation, is Fabergé’s modern-day interpretation of its i…

On May 17, at the second annual Carroll Shelby Tribute and Car Show, auto fans and aficionados are invited to take part in a one-day public event honoring the iconic accomplishments of the legendary racer and carmaker Carroll Shelby. A number of prized Shelby makes will be on display, including the 50th-anniversary FIA Cobra and the original Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe (CSX2299), which is one of just six ever produced and which brought victory to the United States in the 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The celebrati…

An infamous electric guitar, revered Scottish racing vehicles, the first American gold coin, and more.
$3.2 million
During an RM Auctions sale in Paris in early February, a handful of noteworthy racecars crossed the block, including a 1973 Porsche 917/30 Can-Am Spyder and a 2008 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP Le Mans prototype, though few met their reserves. One that did, a 1982 Porsche 956 Group C Sports-Prototype, sold for €2,352,000 (about $3.2 million).
Porsche’s 956 was the German automaker’s first model to featu…

When Joe Bortz was 8 years old, his father bought him a bicycle. This was no ordinary bicycle; it was a newspaper-delivery model—one with a smaller front wheel, which was necessary to accommodate a large frame-mounted basket just below the handlebars. Whether or not the bike was the elder Bortz’s idea of a subtle hint remains a mystery. Bortz never picked up a paper route, but the bike still saw plenty of use.
As a boy, Bortz was fascinated by automobiles, and he spent his afternoons riding his bike to the di…

The Car
From the outset, Enzo Ferrari committed his racing team, Scuderia Ferrari, to success on the track. Following a victorious 1953 campaign—which resulted in a World Sportscar Championship—Ferrari set his sights on another world title and commissioned engine designer Aurelio Lampredi and Italian coachbuilder Pinin Farina to design a new V-12-
powered spider. The resulting racecar, known as the 375 Plus, led Scuderia Ferrari to victories at Le Mans, Silverstone, and the five-day Carrera Panamericana road…

There’s more than one strategy for success in Thoroughbred racing, which means every owner has a chance to win at Churchill Downs.
It’s nearing two o’clock in the afternoon and the SoCal sun is beating down on Santa Anita Park just east of Pasadena. It’s the second day of November—the 30th running of the Breeders’ Cup—and the mercury has reached its zenith for the day. Down by the paddock, the owners and trainers dressed in their race-day best—be it bow ties and fedoras or wide-brimmed hats and form-fitting c…

At the beginning of the 20th century, the maker of the most stylish and practical custom luggage in Paris was not Louis Vuitton or Goyard, but Pauline Moynat. The only prominent female practitioner of the era, Moynat created distinctively curvaceous bags and witty conceptual pieces, such as a round trunk designed to hold a spare tire that could also, in a pinch, be filled with water to serve as a bathtub. She founded her business, Moynat, in 1849, and by 1854 she owned the patent for canvas coated with gutta-p…

Germany’s Lotus Motorcycles has teamed up with the German conceptual-vehicle designer Daniel Simon to create the C-01 motorcycle. While Simon’s best-known work includes the light cycles seen in the 2010 film Tron: Legacy and the bubble copter in the 2013 film Oblivion, he is regarded in the automotive world for his work at Bugatti. The C-01 motorcycle features a 200 hp, four-stroke, 2-cylinder V-twin engine (a modified version of KTM’s 1,195 cc engine), which is draped underneath a carbon-fiber shell and sits …

In less than a decade, the Turin, Italy, custom car builder Studiotorino has developed an impressive stable of revamped automobiles, including ones based on vehicles from Mercedes-Benz, Maserati, and Fiat. It is Porsche, however, that earned the honor of being the first marque to receive the Studiotorino treatment, resulting in the company’s first series of production vehicles. The RK line, which comprised coupe and convertible versions of the 2005 Boxter and Cayman, ended production in 2008. Now, to fill the …