The 1st Fiat 500 World Wide Meeting – July 2-4, 2021
Garlenda 2.0 – a big party for a little car!
After a year's break due to the pandemic, it finally took place again in 2021 – albeit in a new format: The legendary Fiat 500 meeting in Garlenda, this time as the “1st Fiat 500 World Wide Meeting”, supported by Axel Gerstl. More than 3,000 Fiat 500s were registered and spread across the more than 100 events in Italy and in 21 other countries on five continents, including Germany, France, Great Britain, Australia, Japan, Uruguay and South Africa. The individual events were linked and integrated via a live stream presented by the Fiat 500 Club Italia, which was broadcast as a supporting programme from Garlenda. It was peppered with numerous contributions, live broadcasts and interviews on the subject of the Fiat 500 with important personalities from the worlds of cars, entertainment and sports.
Our colleagues Amsycora and Andreas attended the three-day event in honour of the little “five hundred”. As our “brand ambassadors”, they took the opportunity to collect impressions, to take photos and videos and to enjoy the “dolce vita” – where better to do that than directly on site in Garlenda and at the regional meetings along the Ligurian coast? However, the two had to travel by train because, unfortunately, Andreas' Fiat 500 was not ready in time for the long journey – especially the gearbox had caused problems. But this way, they had least plenty of time during the journey to plan out the following days.
First day
On Friday, the first day of the Fiat 500 World Wide Meeting, Amsycora and Andreas visited the headquarters of the Fiat 500 Club Italia in Garlenda and the associated museum.
There, they met Francesca Caneri, who takes care of the club's marketing and public relations and had already been in contact with our team beforehand. This was a great opportunity to finally meet in person and, despite the general tension, Francesca was happy to give them an interview shortly before the recording of the first live stream broadcast started. She talked about her passion for the little Fiat 500 since her childhood, about the importance of the Fiat 500 as a symbol of economic recovery in Italy after the war and beyond, and how she ended up at the Fiat 500 Club Italia after a few detours (please see the complete interview here). Andreas was particularly pleased not only with the – as he put it – “friendly and open way of communication,” but also because he received a very special gift: a copy of Francesca’s book “Un Mito Italiano” about the Fiat 500 phenomenon.
But it wasn't just Francesca Amsycora and Andreas could talk to and exchange ideas with. Despite the hectic pace of filming in the improvised studio next door, Domenico Romano, founding president of the Fiat 500 Club Italia, also took the time for an interview and sat down at their table.
Andreas was delighted: “We were both taken by his charisma and then even more so when he explained to us that all the staff at the club are friends here.” Domenico told them that all those who share the love of the Fiat 500 are on familiar terms and that this would also include Amsycora and Andreas.
Amsycora and Andreas brought the first day to a close by taking a short rest at the seaside. Then, they took a last drink, while the EURO football match of the Italian team was on TV. The victory of the Italian team led to enthusiastic cheers among the Tifosi in Albenga where Amsycora and Andreas were accommodated for the duration of the meeting. As it happened, Martina from Garlenda, sitting at the next table, approached them when she saw their start number plate. In the run-up to the meeting, she had helped to pack the welcome bags at the club's headquarters, and now was only too happy to be photographed with the plate.
Second day
On Saturday, the next day of the Fiat 500 World Wide Meeting in Garlenda, the first real live broadcast started. Amsycora and Andreas were allowed to remain behind the scenes, but only had short personal talks with the people in charge, as they didn't want to disrupt ongoing operations.
A little later, the meeting of the Albenga Club / Coordinamento della Riviera delle Palme took place, for which the two had already confirmed their participation in advance. Their holiday flat, actually only meant as a place to sleep, unexpectedly turned out to be a stroke of luck: From their balcony, they could watch the club’s joyride passing along below and allowing them to take lovely photos and video (see video 1, video 2 and video 3).
The meeting and the joyride were also accompanied and filmed by a professional film team actually working on a travel report.
Without further ado, Amsycora and Andreas offered the camera folks to come up to their balcony for filming – which was gladly accepted and earned them a big thank-you from Domenico as well.
In turn, Andreas was allowed to accompany Marco, a former president of the Fiat 500 Club Italia, to Laigueglia in his Fiat 500 (see video 4, video 5, video 6, video 7, and video 8). Amsycora was given a lift in the Fiat of another participant of the trip.
In Laigueglia, the Fiat 500s were parked in a row along the pier and the participants could move on to the culinary programme of the day.
After a nice evening with lots of conversation and a glass or two of white wine, a member of the club staff took Andreas back to the Centro Storico of Albenga shortly before midnight – Amsycora had already returned there after the joyride. Andreas would like to take the opportunity to express a big thank-you for this overwhelming hospitality!
Third day
The third and final day of the Fiat 500 World Wide Meeting began with a big surprise: Our dear friend Davide Cappadonna and his wife Melinda greeted them and the Axel Gerstl company in a short Instagram video (click here to see it!). Andreas was delighted about his “warm and joyous greetings”. Of course, Amsycora and Andreas were more than happy with the course of things and already looking forward to the meeting of the Cervo Ligure club (Club 500 Riviera dei Fiori), which included, besides another joyride (see video 9), a cultural programme. “When Francesco, the club leader, pointed out that the trips he organised were meant to offer more than a ride to get a four-hour-long meal, we fully agreed,” Andreas said. “Especially Elisa's guided tour of the town was inspiring and full of interesting facts.”
At 6 pm, Amsycora and Andreas returned to Garlenda. They had been invited as official representatives of the Axel Gerstl company to the reception celebrating the “1st World Fiat 500 Day” under the patronage of the Italian Minister of Culture (we had reported on the preliminaries in our Newsletter 192).
“Unfortunately, a coming together of a large crowd could not be realised here either,” Andreas told us. “But a few selected guests were able to watch the live broadcast on appropriately marked seats in the hall of the museum.”
Amsycora was allowed to briefly take the microphone and deliver greetings from the Axel Gerstl company to the audience (see video 10) who, in turn, celebrated exuberantly for a long time afterwards and serenaded the little Fiat 500 on its birthday and anniversary (see video 11).
“We were invited to a small square for an aperitivo,” Andreas said. “We were about to leave, when Marco Pastorelli from the Meeting Internationale staff approached us to say that he recently had, for the first time, taken a closer look at our website and really liked it. He regretted not having done so earlier as, otherwise, he wouldn’t have placed his last order with another dealer.” So a longer conversation ensued and Amsycora and Andreas were treated again to delicacies from the buffet by Marco's caring mother.
Our two representatives had a final sense of achievement that rounded off their successful trip to the 1st Fiat 500 World Wide Meeting: Shortly before the birthday cake of the little Fiat 500 was cut, Andreas managed to make his way to the front row and take a photo.
The Fiat 500 World Wide Meeting in New Zealand
“Garlenda” in New Zealand!
The 1st Fiat 500 World Wide Meeting was duly celebrated: not only in the northern hemisphere, but also on the other side of the planet in New Zealand, as our friends Alfonso Zambuto and Todd Niall told us. “Sunday was a great day,” Alfonso said. Todd spontaneously invited people via Facebook for a “quick coffee” in the pizzeria of a friend, also a proud Fiat 500 owner.
From there, they continued (see video) in a Fiat 500 convoy to Auckland Domain, a 75-hectare park in the centre of Auckland, with the Auckland War Memorial Museum at its heart. “We managed to stop and take a photo,” Alfonso told us. “Then we went off to the park for a picnic – what a great day!”
Most of the Fiat 500s present at the Auckland meeting were models that had been assembled in New Zealand, only a few had been imported by private persons in a fully assembled state (to get hold of Todd's book on the history of the Fiat 500 in New Zealand, click here). “One guy drove all the way from Wellington and back for our meeting,” Todd told us in perfect German. “750 km either way – crazy!”
Unlike the spontaneous meeting in Auckland, the event in Christchurch had had a longer lead time, Todd told us. They had registered in Garlenda and had planned a weekend programme in advance. But the spontaneous meeting in Auckland had also clearly been fun for everybody and Todd expressed a pious hope: “I hope this worldwide thing will be repeated, even if Covid-19 is gone one day!”
The Fiat 500: a Legend – Interview with Francesca Caneri
Francesca: Well, I started working here 13 years ago, this ambience has always been familiar to me because I was born in Garlenda. The first meeting (Editor's note: i.e. the annual Fiat 500 meeting in Garlenda) took place in 1984. I was 3 years old and experienced this wonderful festival for the first time. I’ve seen it growing from year to year. At the beginning, there were only a few dozen cars, the following meetings already featured about a hundred, and for me, the event became an annual highlight. Consequently, my first car was a Fiat 500. This was long before I started working here, I was only 18 at the time. The little car has always been in my heart, independent of anything else. It was only much later and by chance that I ended up working here, after I had done completely different things before. And now I've been working for Fiat 500 Club Italia for 13 years.
Amsycora: The Fiat 500 is a classic car. Is it a typical classic car or does it stand out with a special feature?
Francesca: There are many aspects that make the Fiat 500 so special among the multitude of other classic motorcars. First of all, it’s a car that everybody loves, not only motorsport aficionados. It often serves as a fun object for young people. For many, it’s an occasion to spend time together, to celebrate, but also to enjoy everyday activities like travelling and excursions, or to find a particularly beautiful panorama. The little Fiat 500 has never lost its romantic fascination and its important social role, inviting people to spend time together. For the latter, it's much better suited than any other modern or historic car. This is our firm belief. This is due to, let’s say, its inherent power, which the Fiat 500 most likely owes to the shape of its body. It arouses a feeling of affection in everyone.
Amsycora: Can the classic Fiat 500 be considered as the representative of a historical period and a way of life?
Francesca: Most certainly. For many Italians, the Fiat 500 is almost a family member because, in the memories of all of us, it was the only car that people could afford immediately after the 2nd World War, i.e. the car that accompanied them on the road to reconstruction, to hope. When people went on their first holidays trips, they did so in a Fiat 500. These are very fond memories for Italian families, so strong that many did not dare to scrap their old Fiat 500 when it had to be put out of use – they simply didn’t have the heart to do it. The cars were rather tucked away in dusty barns and now, one by one, they are resurfacing to be restored and put back on the road. This is a very strong emotional value – precisely because the Fiat 500 is the car that embodies the reconstruction of Italy.
Francesca: Oh yes, it's still the car of the dolce vita, the car of Amarcord (Editor's note: the film by Federico Fellini. Amarcord is dialect, meaning “I remember”). I believe that people have a deep longing for tangible, analogue things like the Fiat 500, especially in our digitised age, or, if we want to put it differently, in an age pervaded by technology. This longing is strongly increasing because people are in search of real things.
Amsycora: Is the Fiat 500 the very car in which a whole generation – and also their children – experienced their first love?
Francesca: Probably so. I'm biased here because the Fiat 500 was my first car. The car of my teenage years on which I learned to drive and in which I then took my friends when we all went out to town. To me, as to many other members of the Fiat 500 Club Italia, the Fiat 500 is, in this sense, a medium that makes us feel the way our parents or grandparents probably felt back then. Besides, we Italians are romantics and these things come to us quite naturally, we carry them from one generation to the next and are eager not to lose them. One of the missions of our club is precisely to preserve and pass on what the Fiat 500 means, beyond the technical and engineering matters, and to keep alive the unique historical, emotional, sentimental aspects that go with it.
Amsycora: The Fiat 500 stands for mobility, but also symbolises women's liberation. With this car, women had a vehicle that was easy to drive and that gave them the freedom to come and go without depending on their brothers, fathers or friends.
Francesca: That's right, the Fiat 500 is often called “the car of liberation for youth and women.” Of course this refers to the times back then, today it's a thing of the past. Nevertheless, it has to be said that the Fiat 500 was often the second car in the family. They often owned a large car, driven by the head of the family, and a smaller car on which the children and the housewife learned to drive and which the latter used for taking the children to school, doing her shopping – but also meeting friends or going out for an evening, finally independent of her husband. This is why many women are so fond of the little car.
Andreas: There’s one more thing I wanted to ask you: How did you come up with this idea of the World Wide Meeting? When did it materialise into a real project? You'll go on with it, won't you? I assume that it’s not a one-off event: “The first...”, after all, indicates a sequel.
Francesca: I will not comment on that now (Editor's note: the interview took place the day before the WWM). Let's see how the first event goes, we’ll then decide on the future. The WWM was simply born out of the will to do something. Last year, we didn’t have the possibility to do anything. We celebrated the anniversary of the Fiat 500 with an online party here in the museum. That was all we could do. This year, in February, we were fully in lockdown. Garlenda was in one of the “red zones” of Italy, and it was on the cards that we would have to cancel the meeting for 2021 as well. But then we banged the table, so to speak, and said: no, this year the meeting will take place! Well, we also had the inhabitants of Garlenda in mind and wanted to avoid an invasion of 5,000 people – even the more so as such an event is not feasible in Covid times. We decided to organise something bigger, a celebration for the whole planet! But how? Now, we have all the technical means for direct online connections, simultaneously and from anywhere in the world. So we came up with the idea of organising a multitude of small-scale events. Thus it would be easier for the participants, who otherwise would have to travel long distances or organise their holidays or annual leave at a time that does not allow for long-term planning. Then, we asked all our members in Italy – via 180 trusted people – and all the foreign clubs if they thought it was a good idea and if they would go for it. Everyone showed great enthusiasm. At the end of our survey, we had the approval of 120 clubs from 22 different countries and these days (Editor's note: i.e. the days after the interview when the World Wide Meeting was going to take place) we’ll see if it works.
Andreas: It will work, for sure.
Francesca: It was a very nice idea driven by the desire not to remain inactive for another year. The members asked us to do something, there were very few events and the opportunities to meet had been put on hold for too long. The desire to take action was too strong so that we could not keep still again. We finally said: before we do something minor at a reduced scale, let's do something even bigger.
Andreas: This was a good decision.
Francesca: Even the Italian Ministry of Culture was among those who supported us with this endeavour. In fact, on the occasion of these three days (Editor's note: of the World Wide Meeting), the first “World Day of the Fiat 500” will be celebrated on Sunday. The Ministry thought this was a very good idea and took on the patronage for the event. And I think this is also a great success.
