Little Italy

When it comes to Florentine motoring, small IS beautiful. Alex Jackson hits the road in a classic Fiat 500 to see the city from a local’s perspective. Photography by Tim White

T ourists in Florence are like the waters of the Arno river in full flood – they swamp every road, square and alleyway, as they slosh about dazed and dazzled by the city’s rich heritage. But as I speed through the bodies, everyone is looking my way. They start waving and cheering. In that moment they quite forget about the Uffizi Gallery, the Ponte Vecchio (“old bridge”), and the frescoed buildings. One old fella even bursts into a hearty round of applause.

I myself am not the cause of all the commotion, however. It’s what I am driving. If you were to visit Paris, it’s unlikely you’d be able to swan about in an outfit from Christian Dior’s 1947 New Look collection, if you stayed in Berlin, you probably couldn’t track down a Bauhaus apartment. Yet in Florence, you can burn about in a bone fide Italian design classic, a true icon of style, a real head-turner. Oh yes, I am hurtling around the Renaissance city of Europe behind the wheel of a Fiat! A Fiat 500 to be precise.

Some cars get all the attention! Leaving the cool room of the Hilton Metropole behind, I venture into the heat of the city. Tucked up Via Vinegia, an unassuming backstreet right behind the Palazzo Vecchio, is the 500 Touring Club where, in a converted 14th-century stables, I met Essex-girl-turned-native, Sophie Bye, who offers a host of guided tours and independent trips in one of her six-strong fleet.

“We’ve only been going since March, so we’re brand new in Florence,” she says. “And we’re the only place in the world where you can take a tour like this in Fiat 500s.”

During the 1960s, Italy’s economy was experiencing ‘Il Boom’ and the Fiat 500, first produced in 1957 as one of Europe’s earliest ‘city cars’, became Italy’s first affordable motor. Subsequently, the Topolino (little mouse) exemplified the times in the same way that the Mini summed up swinging London. In 2006, the Fiat 500 even took the title of World’s Sexiest Car in a poll by British car bible Top Gear Magazine, beating Ferraris, Lambourghinis and Maseratis.

Top Gear TV presenter James May said: “The Fiat 500 advertises nothing about its owner, except that it’s someone who doesn’t need to try. So you look and you know. You would, wouldn’t you?”

For many Italians today it is still a popular symbol of the good life. “When we go out in a convoy people practically line the streets for us,” says Sophie.

Forget Ferrari, the Fiat 500 is the Italian car., “I don’t know any country in the world that loves their cars as much as people here love these 500s,” Sophie says. “They really have a cult following.”

Some cars get all the attention! More importantly, it breaks down barriers. From behind the wheel you go from being simply another bloody tourist, to being warmly received by the locals.

But as a foreigner setting up her own business, Sophie admits she was at first a little bit concerned about how she might be received. But she needn’t have worried, such is the car’s attraction.

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