A gaggle of Fiat 500s have just taken part in Fiat 500 Novello Race which kicked off in Heerenveen with the tiny historic cars dashing across Europe to Bardolino in Italy to collect the new Novello wine and bring it back to The Netherlands.

A gaggle of original Fiat 500s have just taken part in Fiat 500 Novello Race which kicked off in Heerenveen, The Netherlands, with the tiny historic cars dashing across Europe to Bardolino in Italy to collect the new Novello wine and bring it back to Heerenveen. At the finish a delegation from the local government welcomed the teams across the finish line. The first Novello wine of the season 2008 was given the deputy Mayor of Heerenveen. After she tasted the wine and adopted it the Novello-dinner started.

The long-distance adventure of the four Fiat 500s started on Tuesday, 4th November. The Mayor of Heerenveen sounded the starting shot at 8.30 am for the first stage of 695 kilometres length to get underway. After two days, and 1,250 kilometres later, the intrepid group arrived in Bardolino (VE, Italy). Although they had quite a bit of trouble the first day, which ended up causing a delay of approximately five hours, the group of 500s arrived on schedule to taste the Novello. The Novello of 2008 is fruity within a combination of raspberry and banana.

On Thursday they collected about 200 bottles of Novello wine in presence of the Alderman of Bardolino. After this ceremony the group prepared the four Fiat's 500 for the trip back home. Friday, early in the morning, the cars left Bardolino to go via Austria to Germany. After an overnight stop in Bretten the last stage got underway. Right on time, and with no major problems to mention, the quartet of 500s arrived at 7.00 pm at the finish line of the Fiat 500 Novello Race in Heerenveen. Over the last few kilometres Heerenveen police escorted the group to the finish which took place at the restaurant perBacco. At the finish a lot of people had gathered to welcome the equipes and to taste the Novello wine.

The initiators of the fiat 500 Novello Race, Henk Gijzen - chairman of the Dutch Fiat 500 Club - and Bert Benthem showed their gratitude to the three drivers and co-drivers for their determination and their persistence to finish the first Fiat 500 Novello Race. They hope a tradition has been born and that a cultural and culinary exchange between The Netherlands and Italy has been born.

by Marco Wirsing