Fiat 500 tour - Impruneta, Italy
Impruneta, Italy
The day started off fairly sedately. We had booked a Fiat 500 tour prior to leaving Australia and thought that it would be good to end our time in Florence with it. The tour was not due to start until 11:30 so I decided to run some errands in the morning. We had breakfast which consisted of cereal, pastries and yoghurt. Anna, who works at Riva Lofts, is an Australian from the Hunter Valley, and was back at work today. That made Pamela happy because she makes an excellent cup of coffee. I agree with Pamela. I agree so much I had three macchiatos. Anyway after breakfast i walked a couple of km into a small suburb to post some postcards to the kids. Apart from bonjourno and arrivederci and molto bene I speak no Italian. So here I am in this little post office surrounded by short elderly Italian ladies lining up at the counter. Now I guess Monday is pension day in Italy because there were heaps of them and it seemed as if they all knew each other. I had to speak with hand gestures and hieroglyphics to get my message across that I wanted the post cards to travel by mail to Australia. She spoke to the manager for what seemed like five minutes. Apparently mail to Australia is not something that they deal with every day. She finally sorts it out and I see she is putting €2.50 on each postcard. I start going through my mind on how to convey that I only want the post cards to travel around the world once but I gave up and paid the cash. Back in the room Pamela was all sorted. I had read the details of the tour we were going on and the taxi was booked. We left in the taxi ready for a drive through the Tuscan countryside in a vintage Fiat 500. We were told the taxi from Florence would cost about €10. Just before we got there we were up to €25. It was at that point that I realised I had left the passports at the hotel and it was a condition of taking part in the tour that you had them with you. Around we turn back to the hotel. To cut a long story short we got there only five minutes late but €46 lighter. I was not happy but could only blame myself. To make matters worse the tour guide did not ask to see them. Anyway I could still not blame anyone and decided to look at it as one of those things. Pamela was very good about it and gave me no ribbing at all. Anyway the tour guide gave us about a half hour of instruction on how to drive the cars. He let us know the Fiat 500 was started to allow Italians access to a cheap alternative mode of travel and to also maintain a strong local automotive industry. They produced cars cheaply so they could sell them cheaply. Making them cheaply meant they did not come with all the creature comforts that we have become used to in recent years like demisters, adjustable reclining seats and a radio. The cars had the engine in the back which followed the way some cars in Europe in those days were designed. What I couldn't figure out was why you would put a motor at the back of the car when it was an air cooled motor. Perplexing. Other shortcuts they made was to not have a synchromesh gearbox. They were just too expensive. This meant that we had to double clutch. Most of us had had experience with double clutching but he gave some instruction on it anyway. After he had finished he allocated the cars out. Because we had arrived slightly late we let the other couples select theirs first. We were left with a blue version he called Fernando. We all hopped in and got the cars started (which you do by pulling a lever up between the seats). We were asked to drive with our lights on as it had been raining that morning. To turn the lights on you had to flick two switches on the dash. One switch for the front lights and the other for the rear. We jockeyed for position except for the couple driving the red one because they had to travel at the back. He said because he could see it easily but i reckon because people that drive the red one will try to drive it faster. Off we went through the hills of Tuscany wending (I'm keeping score Jason) our way through little villages and countless olive groves and vineyards. Our first stop was at a little car park just outside a village. The guide said we stop so that he can give us some information about the area but mostly so the cars can cool down. We were in the Chianti region best known to me because Hannibal Lector drank it with some fava beans. He told us of the strict control the government puts on wines in the country. For a chianti classico the growers are not allowed to use pesticides, fertilisers and even use any type of automated irrigation. For the wine buffs out there we have found Tuscan wines hard to place because they don't usually go by the grape variety but more so the region. They mostly use the Sangiovese variety but these still vary greatly from different regions. The Tuscan wines are generally a lighter red wine that is good with pasta, pizza or light meals. We have tried the chianti, burello and multipulcino wines. All good but light and not a lot of body. Anyway I digress, the next stop was at an olive grove and he spoke for about a half an hour on growing olives and making the best olive oil. Now the olive oil in Tuscany is very nice even though Tuscany does not produce a great deal of Italy's oil. They do not just grow one variety of olive either: they grow many different varieties and pick them and crush them together. The olive oil is strictly controlled as well. The name for the oil will depend on its acidity. It must have below 1.8%25 acidity for it to be allowed to be called extra virgin. Some more driving, and I was having fun double clutching. There was an American couple in front that were ringing the poor two cylinder motor's neck but their car made it anyway. We arrived back at the start point and instead of putting the cars away we made our way up to the villa on the property. Into a cellar (normally it is outside but it was raining in the morning) and in front was a nice array of food for lunch. All sourced locally including a red, white and desert wine. There was bruschetta, salami, pecorino cheese (which I have talked about before), pasta, chicken liver pate and salad. He spoke about the wine a bit and then we dug in. The meal was great and there was plenty for everyone. We finished off by taking the cars back down to where they are garaged and sharing taxis back to Florence. A great day and some awesome conversation. Met a nice American couple that are working in Kazakstan. They are loving the fresh food. Anyway this is our last day in Florence. We leave tomorrow for Venice. Will give another update tomorrow. Arrivederci.