• Rare competition version
• Delivered new to Romania
• Restored by a specialist

The best known and most successful large-capacity Gilera roadster of the immediate post-WW2 period was the 500cc Saturno. First seen in 1940 in competition guise, the Saturno - a 499cc, overhead-valve, four-stroke single - did not enter production until 1946 when it appeared with the horizontally-sprung, friction-damped, swinging-arm rear suspension first seen on the pre-war blown 'four' racer. In the late 1940s the factory built a limited number of Competizione versions of the Saturno for sale to privateers, and this model resulted in the more highly developed San Remo racer that featured a more powerful engine, a blade-type girder fork, and a full-width front hub. Ridden by major stars of the day, the San Remo established an enviable competition record, proving capable of beating multi-cylinder rivals around tighter circuits on numerous occasions. The design's next development, the Corsa, arrived in 1951 boasting a revised engine with increased finning and a larger sump. A telescopic front fork and conventional hydraulically damped rear shock absorbers made their first appearance on this model, giving rise to the name Piuma (feather) because of the ease of handling these advances brought with them. Major changes to the Turismo and Sport roadsters were mainly confined to the cycle parts, which were updated with a telescopic front fork and full-width alloy front brake for 1951, and conventional coil-sprung dampers at the rear soon after. Production of the Saturno roadsters continued until 1959, their passing marking the end of the line for one of Italy's truly great classic motorcycles.

Copies of factory despatch records on file show that Saturno Competizione number '26278' was delivered new to Bucharest, Romania from where it was purchased in 1991. Raced by a privateer and restored by a specialist, the machine also comes with copies of other documents (in Italian) and an original parts catalogue.