by Marco Frescucci
Finally, after a year of preparations and discussions with the Municipal Administrations, the first meeting of the Arezzo Coordination of the Fiat 500 Club Italia called "Raduno dei Borghi." The name is no coincidence, as our goal is to bring the 500s to the most characteristic villages of our province. The meeting was held at the Bar dello Stadio; after a tour with the cars in the center of Arezzo, we arrived and parked at the Prato Park, A few steps from Cathedral, Medici Fortress and Piazza Grande, where a guided tour was held that was much appreciated by the participants.
Afterwards we moved towards the village of Civitella in Val di Chiana, about 20 km from Arezzo, where we had a buffet lunch (so no table service). This was certainly unusual for our gatherings, but it was appreciated, as after an hour we were already handing out the prizes, and by 15 pm, those who wished could head home. This didn't happen, however, as the members stayed behind because they also had the opportunity to visit the Pinacoteca Comunale, the Biennale of Contemporary Painting, and the small World War II Museum.
I would like to thank all those who participated, including the members who came from outside Tuscany (we had crews from Viterbo, Pesaro, Perugia); I fondly remember the member Biagio Leone, born in 1948, from the Pisa Coordination, who, without our knowledge, arrived the evening before and slept in his Giardiniera to be on time for the meeting.
I thank everyone who contributed to the success of the event: Claudio Panicucci, his wife Sandra and his sister Claudia, who carried out the registration process masterfully; my wife Caterina, collaborator and pastry chef (hers was the dessert of the gathering), and my children Iacopo and Mirco, the first photographer at the gathering and the second who helped me navigate the questions I had with the municipal administrations. Kudos to member Giuseppe Varano for his drone footage.
A hug and my apologies go to my friends friends/trustees of the Coordinating Committees of Valdarno, San Gimignano, Siena, Florence, Pesaro, and Perugia, with whom I was so excited I forgot to take the ritual photo. See you next year for the second "Raduno dei Borghi" to be held in Anghiari.
