The 500

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/automobiles/autoreviews/27WHEEL.html?hpw=&pagewanted=all

The article referenced above is about one of the best cars to ever have been built. The Fiat 500 (or the Cinquecento as we say in Italy)! What makes this car so special you might ask? Aside from a number of memories it brings to my mind, it’s a great little car!

I admit I have a thing for little cars and I’m not even sure why. Probably because I’m not that big and I tend to think that great things come in small packages. But there’s something special about this car because whenever I went to Italy as a kid, the whole family would pack into a 500 (all my uncles and my dad had one. It was a must). All 7 or 8 of us would somehow get in that car and go to the beach. Or we’d go and accompany someone home at night and then go get gelatos. No matter how small it was on the outside, it was enormous to us on the inside.

My husband (a.k.a. The Mexican) is 6’2” and even he couldn’t keep away from the mesmerizing nature of this vehicle. When we first went to Italy he was dying to get into my dad’s 500. (Yes, my dad still has car…probably bought in the late 50’s/early 60s! and still running.) Granted when he got in the car, his head popped out of the sun roof, but he still thought it was the best car ever!

Last year when we returned to Italy, the Mexican wanted to drive a 500 more than anything. Maybe he just wanted to drive along with the crazy Italian drivers but regardless, we rented a 500. We drove it from Rome to Calabria and back up. It was fantastic! I thoroughly enjoyed the mach imitating noises as the cars doing upwards of 100 mph made as they passed us. We were doing about 85 or 90 ourselves. This was normal. This is something I have always loved about driving in Italy!! Speed!!

When we returned the car to the car rental agency, the Mexican in his limited Italian (although he thinks he speaks perfect Italian, which is another blog entry for sure) said to the agent:

I love the 500!!

To which the agent said, ‘Ah yes, it’s a fantastic car!’

Even though it was a sleek Mercedes or Jaguar, people all over Italy looked admiringly at the 500. It made me feel famous. But most of all it made me feel warm for those good times as a kid when the whole family climbed into the car and squished together. Wherever we arrived, we looked like a clown car, person after person exiting the smallest car imaginable.