Weekend Playlist #5: Italy

Italy is a place near and dear to our hearts, and so for this week we’ve decided to gather a few clips that help to capture the essence of the country’s love affair with cars. Even better, these videos show how diverse and rewarding it can be for those who wish to drive tastefully, whether on vacation or during a longer-term stay.!

In 1962, crime in Rome was remarkably under control thanks to the valiant efforts of the local police. To reward the success of the force, the president of the Italian Republic himself asked Enzo Ferrari to assign two very special Ferraris to police duty. One of the Ferraris is almost immediately destroyed. One survives to this day. This is the tale of the survivor.

For the young and young at heart, nothing captures the spirit of our built-in hoons quite like watching classic police chases. 

Before the summer begins, we’d like to take you for a short ride along the Adriatic coast in the town of Rimini, Italy—and the tale of Annalisa and her Autobianchi Bianchina

Jeremy Clarkson and a beautiful car made by two classic marques: Touring and Alfa Romeo. What more do you need to know?\

To be fair, we’re not sure if the video on the left was filmed in Italy, but it does contain several Italian cars. Why share it? It’s not often you see what traffic looked like back in the day! On the right is, well, an example of why it’s not a great idea to drive a car in a large Italian city…

This Italian-language documentary is about the 1952 Monza Grand Prix—a rare look at some of the stars and cars that raced on this high-speed track’s flowing curves. Even though it’s not in English, the footage needs little explanation.

We’re presenting two of our videos this week. We’ve been lucky to film many Italian cars, and one thing we’ve noticed is how inspiring they often are to people. The first is on an original Fiat 500, which allows its owner to completely warp back into the ’60s. The second is a Ferrari that has inspired a German architect to literally build his studio/garage around his beloved 512 BBi.