{"id":6913,"date":"2023-10-25T04:13:19","date_gmt":"2023-10-25T08:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/?p=6913"},"modified":"2023-10-25T04:14:43","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T08:14:43","slug":"micro-machine-driving-a-fully-restored-classic-fiat-500","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/25\/micro-machine-driving-a-fully-restored-classic-fiat-500\/","title":{"rendered":"Micro Machine: Driving a fully restored classic Fiat 500"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The original &#8220;piccola macchina&#8221; goes for a stroll in a historic Italian city. Gets a bit lost<\/h3><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.topgear.com\/car-news\/vijay-pattni\">Vijay Pattni<\/a> for BBC TopGear &#8211; The small cobblestoned city of Lucca in central Italy boasts one of the oldest and best-preserved Renaissance walls in all of Europe, able to trace a line right back to 180 BC and the founding of the Roman colony of\u00a0<em>Luca<\/em>.<\/p><p>Nestled within these fortifications you\u2019ll find a wellspring of culture including a palace once owned by a powerful Italian family, a litany of historic churches with one dating back to the 12th century, and famed Italian composer Puccini\u2019s actual house.<\/p><p>You\u2019ll also find a beleaguered Top Gear writer forlornly attempting to get a small car out of the city. As Jeremy, Richard and James found out over a decade ago, Lucca \u2013 achingly pretty, bursting with history, a postcard of Renaissance Italy \u2013 is a bloody maze.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"976\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-6-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"6920\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-6-1.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/?attachment_id=6920\" class=\"wp-image-6920\" srcset=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-6-1.jpg 976w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-6-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-6-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-6-1-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-6-1-107x60.jpg 107w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-6-1-160x90.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 976px) 100vw, 976px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"976\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-5-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"6921\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-5-1.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/?attachment_id=6921\" class=\"wp-image-6921\" srcset=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-5-1.jpg 976w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-5-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-5-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-5-1-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-5-1-107x60.jpg 107w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-5-1-160x90.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 976px) 100vw, 976px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"976\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-4-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"6922\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-4-1.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/?attachment_id=6922\" class=\"wp-image-6922\" srcset=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-4-1.jpg 976w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-4-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-4-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-4-1-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-4-1-107x60.jpg 107w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-4-1-160x90.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 976px) 100vw, 976px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"976\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-3-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"6923\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-3-1.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/?attachment_id=6923\" class=\"wp-image-6923\" srcset=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-3-1.jpg 976w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-3-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-3-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-3-1-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-3-1-107x60.jpg 107w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-3-1-160x90.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 976px) 100vw, 976px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"976\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-2-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"6924\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-2-1.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/?attachment_id=6924\" class=\"wp-image-6924\" srcset=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-2-1.jpg 976w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-2-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-2-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-2-1-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-2-1-107x60.jpg 107w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-2-1-160x90.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 976px) 100vw, 976px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"976\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"6925\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-1-1.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/?attachment_id=6925\" class=\"wp-image-6925\" srcset=\"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-1-1.jpg 976w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-1-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-1-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-1-1-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-1-1-107x60.jpg 107w, https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-1-1-160x90.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 976px) 100vw, 976px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-caption\"><em><sup>Photography: Olgun Kordal<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><p>So&nbsp;<em>benvenuti mi amici<\/em>, where your correspondent comes to you live from\u2026&nbsp;<em>somewhere<\/em>&nbsp;in the small cobblestoned city of Lucca in central Italy! Thankfully nobody appears to have noticed that photographer Olgun and I are completely lost in this cultural epicentre tucked away in Tuscany, because we\u2019re in perhaps the epicentre of Italian automotive culture.<\/p><p>Yes, it\u2019s a classic Fiat 500, the original&nbsp;<em>nuova cinquecento<\/em>, which is as much a symbol of small cars as it is of Italy itself. It\u2019s also the reason why we\u2019re accidentally creeping through a pedestrian zone after taking a wrong turn and nobody is shouting at us for going the wrong way.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>Because, quite frankly, this might just be the most adorable little thing ever created. <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure><p>First released into the world in 1957 as a successor to the perhaps even more adorable\u00a0<em>topolino<\/em>\u00a0(literally, \u2018little mouse\u2019), the 500 was a small, rear-engined slice of Italian ingenuity.<\/p><div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\"><div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.topgear.com\/car-news\/big-reads\/micro-machine-driving-a-fully-restored-classic-fiat-500-costs-ps8k\">Read more here<\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The original &#8220;piccola macchina&#8221; goes for a stroll in a historic Italian city. Gets a bit lost Vijay Pattni for BBC TopGear &#8211; The small cobblestoned city of Lucca in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6914,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1593,1594,1595],"class_list":{"0":"post-6913","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-fiat-500","9":"tag-micro-machine","10":"tag-restored-classic-fiat-500"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/fiat-500-6.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6913"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6927,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6913\/revisions\/6927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}