{"id":2810,"date":"2024-12-08T14:23:04","date_gmt":"2024-12-08T21:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/?p=2810"},"modified":"2024-12-08T14:23:24","modified_gmt":"2024-12-08T21:23:24","slug":"driving-through-italys-emilia-romagna-region-in-vintage-fiats-and-super-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/travel\/2810\/driving-through-italys-emilia-romagna-region-in-vintage-fiats-and-super-cars","title":{"rendered":"Driving Through Italy\u2019s Emilia-Romagna Region in Vintage Fiats and Super Cars"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Vintage<\/a>

Vintage Fiats, arranged by IC Bellagio, floor it at Palazzo di Verginana near Imola. Photo by Harrison Shiels<\/p><\/div>\n

A vacation\u2019s last day usually means a morning trip to the airport\u2026an especially depressing journey at the conclusion of a wondrous trip to Italy. IC Bellagio, Italy\u2019s premier custom tour company, created, organized, and facilitated a dream week buzzing around the vibrant Emilia-Romagna Region of Italy. My itinerary included strolling the UNESCO World Heritage site piazza in the city of Modena – home to tradizionale balsamic vinegar makers such as Acetaia Rossi Barattini – during \u201cSciCola\u201d \u2013 a Festival del Cioccolato! Literally la dolce vita!<\/p>\n

Emilia-Romagna\u2019s tourist board put me in the center of Modena at the Milano Palace Hotel, with its Ristorante Damadeo, and arranged visits for me throughout the \u201cMotor Valley\u201d to the laboratory-like factory headquarters hand-crafting Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati super sports cars. I was even driven through the panoramic countryside around Imola, home to the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix, in a colorful vintage Fiat, with a stop in the tiny, walled village of Dozza for a caf\u00e9 americano, or, in my case, a glass of local vino bianco.<\/p>\n

But early on a cloudy,\u00a0Sunday morning, my coach was turning into a pumpkin: a van – not a high-performance sportscar – was scheduled to take me to the Bologna airport where I would submit to an entire, equally unglamorous day trekking back to the USA through Paris. I stood next to my suitcase outside the lobby entrance of the mountaintop, panoramic, Palazzo di Verignana luxury resort and inhaled fresh air while I took a last look at the elegant scenery. The clean, black van I presumed was my ride was parked, but without a driver. I noticed, however, a wavy-haired woman dressed warmly standing on the driveway. As the only two people out there, we inevitably made eye contact.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Shiels?\u201d she asked me.<\/p>\n

\u201cSi?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAllora. I am Emanuela. I will drive you to the airport,\u201d she pronounced.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuongiorno,\u201d I greeted her in an apologetic tone. \u201cPiacere di conoscerti.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou speak Italian?\u201d she asked in English.<\/p>\n

\u201cCosi cosi,\u201d I answered, suggesting I spoke a little Italian\u2026badly: \u201cPiccolo. Mi Italiano parlare male.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emanuela smiled and gestured toward the van. When she tried to take my luggage from me, I refused her. As I slung the heavy suitcase into the vehicle, I admitted to her I was not accustomed to having a \u201cbella donna\u201d beautiful female driver.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrazie,\u201d said the confident Italian woman, with a smile. She apparently appreciated the compliment since we then chatted amiably while rolling over the curvy, hilly roads to the airport. She told me, in her Italian accent, she had lived in Naples and been a tour guide in Rome before moving to Bologna. \u201cYou might like to visit Naples. It is a mess, but wonderful chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n

I asked Emanuela how she ended up in in the Emilia-Romagna region?<\/p>\n

\u201cFor love,\u201d she answered as she steered the van. \u201cI followed a man to Bologna for love. But it did not work out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI suspect you could have any man you want, anyway,\u201d I offered. She did not disagree. Instead, while keeping her eyes on the road, Emanuela nodded. \u201cSi, but I always choose difficult ones. Now I have become aware of that, so I am working on it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow you choose only a man who does not need fixing?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

Emanuela tossed her head and chuckled. Then, in an exaggerated voice asked, \u201cDo you think a man such as that exists?! One that does not need fixing? Find him and then show me!\u201d We both laughed for a bit at her comedy. Then she told me she was currently dating a New Zealander she met on karaoke night. \u201cWe were only friends at first\u2026and then we were not only friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDid the Kiwi meet you by hearing you sing? He must have liked it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSi. I sang in a band when I lived in Rome. The band was called \u2018Grog.\u2019 We performed Irish drinking and pirate songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

That bore repeating, so, I slowly unspooled what she had revealed. \u201cYou\u2026are an Italian woman\u2026 who performed Irish drinking songs\u2026in Rome?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd pirate songs,\u201d she reminded me.<\/p>\n

Though Emanuela was driving on a tree-lined road, I could not resist sticking my hands into the front seat to show her the gold, Irish Claddagh rings I wore \u2013 one on each hand. She said she had never seen someone wear two of them. \u201cTwo different weddings,\u201d I explained with a shrug she could see via a quick glance in the rearview mirror. Then we both laughed for a bit, again, at the comedy.<\/p>\n

Emanuela told me, when we reached the curbside at the airport and I pulled my suitcase from the van, that she would then drive 30-minutes back to Palazzo di Verignana resort to pick up some other IC Bellagio guests and take them to tour Ferrari headquarters in Maranello. \u201cI should finish with everything in the afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n

I hate goodbyes. So, after a handshake, hug, and gratuity, as I rolled my suitcase toward the airport door, I sang to the Italian beauty the lyric of an Irish drinking song:\u00a0\u201cAnd there\u2019s no, nay, never\u2026no nay never no more\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

And as Emanuela, smiling, opened the driver\u2019s door to get back behind the wheel, she continued the song, singing back to me:\u00a0\u201c\u2026Will I play the wild rover\u2026no never no more.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Ciao, Bella!<\/p>\n

Make plans now to visit Italy\u2019s Emilia-Romagna Region during the Italian Grand Prix Formula 1 race\u00a0May 15-18\u00a0and Motor Valley Fest\u00a0May 22-25.<\/p>\n

Contact Michael Patrick Shiels at\u00a0<\/em>MShiels@aol.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0His new book: Travel Tattler \u2013 Not So Torrid Tales, may be purchased via\u00a0Amazon.com\u00a0Hear his radio talk show on WJIM\u00a0AM 1240\u00a0in Lansing weekdays\u00a0from 9 am \u2013 noon.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A vacation\u2019s last day usually means a morning trip to the airport\u2026an especially depressing journey at the conclusion of a… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":2812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,17],"tags":[1044564],"class_list":["post-2810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","category-courses-and-travel","tag-michael-shiels"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2024\/12\/Italy.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2810"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2813,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2810\/revisions\/2813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}