Roma Litorale Meeting of the Fiat 500 Club Italia on 02 June 2022

Meeting of the Fiat 500 Club Italia on the Coast of Rome

It was planned that Amsycora, soon after his return from the event in Pistoia, would also attend the Roma Litorale meeting of the Fiat 500 Club Italia at the coast of Rome, but a positive Covid-19 test threw a spanner in the works. Luckily, our friend and colleague Andreas had the time and was spontaneous enough to stand in for Amsycora.

Immediately after his arrival in Rome on 1 June, Andreas was warmly welcomed by Andrea Prudenzi, liaison man and organiser-in-chief of the Fiat 500 Club Italia in the Roman coastal region. The car ride to the place where they were due for dinner took longer than planned, even though they had already allowed for the notorious high traffic volume. Andreas attributed the, as he put it “incredible traffic" to the Italian National Holiday the next day, as the entire city seemed to be on their feet or at the wheel. As a compensation, he was treated to a delicious meal including a typical starter dish and a classic pizza with Andrea and his wife Simone as well as club members Antonio, Mauro, Leonardo and Irene.

Later, he found that he shared his hotel with some other meeting participants who had parked their Fiat 500s on the big car park in front of the hotel.

The next day, he set off early at 7 am together with Andrea and the other hard-working helpers to drive to “Zoomarina” water park, one of the biggest aquatic zoos in Italy, only a few meters away from the seaside. “An interesting idea to hold the meeting at this water park,” Andreas resumed: A win-win situation for the organisers and for the operator of the zoo, who could present the many lovingly arranged Fiat 500s as an additional attraction to the thousands of visitors. In return, the club members only paid a reduced entrance fee.

Among the slightly more than one hundred Fiat 500s, Andreas discovered some oddities such as an artistic side-window design that looked as if a miniature Fiat 500 model had broken through the glass.

He saw a lot of Fiat 500s in ever new variants “to express the love their drivers have for their little treasures,” as he described it. Those drivers were greeted personally by Andreas at the registration desk, where he handed over little gifts from Axel Gerstl.

Later on, Andreas and the other Fiat 500 lovers enjoyed a stage performance and exchanged stories, experiences and anecdotes from the Fiat 500 world. A special treat for Andreas was talking to Enzo who, during their conversation about number plates, suddenly switched from Italian to German.

Besides that, Andreas offered his assistance whenever possible, helping the organisers and lending a hand not only when setting up the facilities in the morning, but also when dismantling them again in the evening. He was rewarded with a family dinner at Andrea’s place.

The next day, he had to return to Munich – not failing to come across another Fiat 500 shortly before leaving – this time, a promotion car in a retail shop.

Back home, Andreas expressed his enthusiasm for the Fiat 500 Club Italia, Litorale Roma section. He called Andrea a true liaison man (fiduciario) everybody can turn to as a club member with all problems, even beyond the mechanical stuff!”