A Very Special Fiat 500 Meeting on the Island of Elba on 27 and 28 May 2023

A Fiat 500 Carnival Celebration

Is it possible to celebrate carnival outside the normal carnival season? Yes, it is! On the weekend of May 27/28, 2023, David Berti and his Team “500%Elba” of Coordinamento Elba (Fiat 500 Clubs Italia) demonstrated how to do so. The meeting of Fiat 500 enthusiasts on the island of Elba was indeed themed “Arnevalata” – no surprise that everything was focused on the carnival hustle and bustle. Besides our staff member and colleague Andreas, globetrotter Gianluca Fiorentini was around (you can find numerous travel reports by and about Gianluca here on our website!). Gianluca travelled all the way from Rome in his little Fiat 500 and met up with Andreas at the port of Piombino. Their conversation over a beer about their plans for common activities during the meeting was so intense that they lost track of time and only realised at the last minute that their ferry was about to depart. The result was that they dashed off frantically with Gianluca bringing his Fiat 500 up to maximum speed. He used his horn to pass by astonished people and cars waiting for the next embarkation, while Andreas, completely distraught, leaned out of the window, waving their ferry tickets. Both could only calm down and bring their adrenaline levels back to normal when they had reached the ferry car park.

After their arrival on Elba, Gianluca’s Fiat 500 soon joined a fleet of its kind – after all, more than 200 Fiat 500 had been registered for the meeting. Still at the port, Andreas and Gianluca were greeted by helpers dressed up as cartoon characters, many locals and holidaymakers with friendly words and happy faces. This was a harbinger of the festive atmosphere the two would experience the following days on Elba.

The meeting of a different kind began with a carnival parade of the Fiat 500s lined-up along the Marciana Marina seafront. A “Fiat 250” – i.e. a Fiat 500 cut in half – led the way, followed by various humorously designed floats, Brazilian dancers, percussion artists, masked showmen and many other cheerful and happy people.

During the evening show, the “500%Elba” team came up with further ideas and interludes. This included a Fiat 500 sculpture, a stroboscope made of two Fiat 500s glued together at their bottoms and completely mirrored like a disco ball, a pole-dance Fiat 500 with the pole sticking out of the open roof, an impressive light installation projected onto the front of a building on Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, showing Fiat 500-related animations.

The cruise on the next day was a treat for the participants, as it showed breathtaking views of the island that counts among the most beautiful and fascinating islands in the Mediterranean. But during an aperitif on Cavoli beach, the organisers then staged another great “coup de théâtre”, as Gianluca called it. To everybody’s astonishment, a supposedly yellow submarine suddenly emerged from the clear sea water, but it quickly turned out to be a Fiat 500. For Andreas and Gianluca, this was the last highlight of this enjoyable and captivating meeting, which stood out by its many attractions.

After the goodbyes, they headed off for their ferry back to the mainland, and reached it this time without any stress.

Andreas and Gianluca would like to take the opportunity to say a big thank-you to Davide Berti and his team, especially Francesco Mignano. “We also met old acquaintances and made new friends, such as Andrea Prudenzi (Fiat 500 Club Italia, Coordinamento Roma Litorale), Giovanni Grisolia (Coordinamento di Savona) or Alessandra Valenti and the group 500isti Roma Nord,” Andreas told us later and said: “It was really a very special meeting on the island of Elba!”