"Obvious effort is the antithesis of grace." This is the statement at the heart of "sprezzatura," a word first defined in Baldassare Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier. The Italian term describes the art of making the difficult look easy and hiding all the artificial elements that go into the making. It appeals to a very specific notion of aesthetics-we want to enjoy the result of careful and meticulous work without seeing all that work that went into it. After all, we don't want to watch as a model is waxed, plucked, positioned and made up. We want to see the photo of her looking naturally beautiful. And we don't want to see the plastic surgery scars either.
In Italian style, the suit is classical and impressive, but one or two accessories may catch the eye and seem off-the tie knot is askew, the watch is worn over the cuff. They seem to be errors, but really every detail is painstakingly planned. That's "sprezzatura."
The Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT makes the difficult look easy. For 2007, those with a more discerning taste called for an automatic transmission, to be more in tune to the car's comfort-seeking demographic. The six-speed ZF automatic is paired with the 4.2L V-8 engine, delivered with smooth suavity. For those who still want a little more bravado in their style, there are steering column paddle shifters at your fingertips and a sport mode to shorten gear changes and tighten suspension. Also, the semi-auto Ferrari transmission is still available in the DuoSelect model. Still everything is geared toward comfort and class. The Skyhook adaptive damping even keeps the car from diving and squatting during braking and acceleration.
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