When I bought the car, it looked like this – the base plate for the licence plate was not there.

Alfa 156 without the front base plate for the licence plate

Recently had a chance to get a used one, but the supposedly black colour has turned to grey

A used Alfa 156 base plate for the licence plate

The most difficult part of the work is to clear the glue residual, what you see below is the results after the effort of 1.5 hours with my strained fingers and broken nails.  Eventually it took me another 10 minutes to clean it completely.

Glue residual under the licence plate

Gave the base plate a DIY repaint and the result:

Alfa 156 with the base plate for the licence plate

Does it really look better? Well not necessary but it is not bad at all and it is what it supposes to be.