Apetto-almost 70 years a-buzzing

and other tiny Italian cars

This FIAT 600- with doors opening the opposite way - is the same color as the one that met me outside the terminal at Fiumicino when I arrived in Rome back in 1965. A few years later it was traded in for a brand new FIAT 500 that served us faithfully (usually) for the next 32 years. If you are curious to see what tiny car I drive through our narrow streets nowadays, check the photo at the end of this article.

Italian tiny cars like these are now tourist attractions with special 500 tours in Florence and other touristy cities. But they were and still are necessities due to the narrow streets and alleyways of medieval towns built originally for donkeys and pedestrians only.

To celebrate my birthday and almost 7 decades since the apetto was invented, here is a "carrellata” of photos showing some of the varied tasks the 3-wheeled ape do in Italy’s medieval towns and countryside.

They were named APE (or apetto - bee ) due to the buzzing sound of the motor. Anyone who has driven an ape or a FIAT 500, will never forget the sound they produce, nor how to shift gears on these humble tiny cars.

(Don’t forget to click the underlined links to discover more)

top: need to haul wood, children or luggage? you don’t need a license to drive an apetto!

bottom: Giuseppe delivers gas bombole/tanks around town with this red ape

Sandro decorated his apetto with discarded stuffed animals

I wonder if the person who restored this medieval townhouse in Barbarano Romano’s centro storico is the owner of the multi-colored apetto parked outside.

Flower seller in a Rome piazza

My new American neighbor, Amy, received her apetto as a gift from her husband. Its a great help in the olive grove and her 4 children love riding in it.

Vintage and tiny car lovers visiting the area north of Rome known as Etruria or Tuscia can see a wonderful collection in a special museum of vintage tiny cars in Bagnoregio. And for those collectors seeking a rare vintage auto (to buy or to have one restored) check out my nephew Jake’s Resurrection business in New England.

(vintage yes, but not tiny ! )

Museum Taruffi, Bagnoregio weird cars used by Fellini

While you are in Bagnoregio you might spot the apetto that is the only motor vehicle allowed to cross the bridge bringing luggage, groceries and disabled persons to the famous village of Civita di Bagnoregio. (click the link )

Want to know more about the area near Rome and the port of Civitavecchia and how people live here? Press the subscribe button for bi-monthly articles on my free magazine-The Painted Palazzo.

If you like hard copy books -nonfiction history and travel essays my many publications are available at most local museums, special sites like the spectacular Renaissance gardens Bosco Sacro in Bomarzo and bookshops in this area where I live. You will not find them on amazon but they can be ordered from my ebay page or website - just send me a message. Payments can be made with paypal.

Here is my present-day tiny car, parked outside the “Painted Palazzo”