On June 24th, 2010 was the 100th birthday of Alfa Romeo. The FIAT group, in which Alfa Romeo was integrated in 1986, didn't care in the least about the event. The organization was done by the MAC Group, an Italian event managing company, in collaboration with RIAR, the Italian Alfa Romeo Register. Because the intended activities for the event were shortened month by month it was up to the other European Alfa Clubs to organize something. And they did - some 2500 Alfa Romeos spent the weekend in and around Milan.

We travelled with our AR Giulia Super Nuova of 1977 who has been a family member for 21 years. The Alfa Romeo Club of Germany had arranged a whole week for us starting in Hannover and picking up more and more cars into the convoy as we approached Varese, north-west of Milan. The weeks before we had permanent rain and temperatures with little more than one digit (we call this early summer) but when we travelled to join the others near Karlsruhe, the sun came out and summer finally found its way to us. The drive over the Alps via Grimsel and Nufenen Pass was fantastic.

Varese is located between Lago Maggiore and Lago di Como, certainly one of the most beautiful areas in northern Italy. Two hold ups by traffic jams could not spoil our fun and the hotel in Varese was very acceptable. The first day we just drove around a bit at the lakes and met nice Alfa people wherever we stopped. Later we gathered at the bar for a beer and the football world cup.

On June 24th we all went to Arese for the centenary celebration. In Arese, west of Milan, Alfa Romeo cars were produced for a long time until FIAT started to close the factory from 1986 on. Today, Arese is vacant and just before the centenary the FIAT Group shut down the last parts of the factory in which once 19.000 people used to work. Only the Museo Storico Alfa Romeo is still there. The clubs from Germany, GB, Netherland and Switzerland had done all the negotiations with the Museum and somehow all the others just came along.

Museo Storico at Arese

At a quarter past 8 in the morning the cars started to arrive - at the closed gate. The guardian pointed out that the Museum opens at 9 and before that no one is allowed in, not even into the car park. Half an hour later the queue was kilometers long and blocking the roads. After various phone calls and cursing the Italian bureaucracy they finally opened. The next queue formed at the entrance (though it was free of charge) because they wanted the visitors to sign the guest book - one book for thousends of people. No comment.

Indeed, the museum is very good; though a few interesting cars were missing because they were at other events like the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Later, the official birthday speeches were planned but somehow didn't take place - I don't think anybody missed them. We rather talked to other Alfisti - some of them coming from as far as Australia, Canada, Malaysia, South Africa, Japan or Russia. I saw somebody with a Kiwi cap, but there was none on the list of nationalities, so he may have been a fake.

When leaving the area we heard that the Italian Labour Union had put on a strike at the gates and closed them for almost one hour - very sensible when no FIAT executive is there (the strike was due to another planned closure of a FIAT factory). I am afraid this protest only annoyed all the Alfisti and won't help the workers very much. Anyhow, Arese had many emotional moments and if you happen to be in the Milan area it's a must to go to there and visit the Museo Storico.

Later on, some of us went to Monza where RIAR had organized a driving on the race track. We didn't go, with 35°C it was much too hot for us. But we heard it was quite good, though not cheap if you wanted to have a go on the race track. We, instead, enjoyed a late lunch at Lago Lugano and after that we even more enjoyed watching the Italian football team loosing against Slovakia, with some malice, of course. There may be a European Community but certainly not when football is involved.

Cento Alfa per cent' anni

On June 25th we went to Novegro near Milan airport, where the Alfa Blue Team - an exquisite club of Alfa owners - had assembled an exhibition called 100 Alfas for 100 years. That exhibition was really the highlight of everything - I never have seen such a good collection (of mainly private cars) with such an excellent presentation. I only can hope that all the Alfisti have seen it, because we sure won't see anything like that again.
One of our favorites was a dark blue Carabinieri Giulia. Unfortunately the owners in their decorative police uniforms were always in sight, otherwise we would have been tempted to take it (the key was there ..) !!

That day was really perfect until we reached the new hotel in Milan where we had ordered and paid our parking places months in advance and then found that all places were taken. The hotel had simply done double bookings for us and a symposium which ended at 19h. Obviously they don't expect people to arrive before 19h when a great dinner is planned at the same hotel at 20h. And we are not talking about a cheap common hotel.

Anyhow, the evening dinner was quite good and a little shouting and complaining by the club board finally cleared the parking situation as well. The club board also hinted out that all what was planned for the next two days was in the sole responsibility of the MAC Group. The final program for this weekend had been framed only three weeks before and was once again revised three days before the centenary. One lady said to me that she expected nothing or the worst - and everything better than that is good. A very good motto for what was to come.

Percorso Fiera Rho - Milano

The MAC Group also organizes the Mille Miglia - so they should know how to handle many cars. Should, but don't. For Saturday a meeting of all Alfas from all clubs and nationalities was planned at the Milan show grounds. We arrived early to join the traffic jam on the access road. Up to 3000 cars were expected - and 2 people (in words: TWO) were handling the entrance. Almost a minute for each car .. some of us needed more than an hour to get in. The idea was to assemble all nationalities separately in designated parking areas. For each car they had to check a long list to hand out the parking sticker . and we found ourselves in between the Swiss contingent while others who had been travelling together in a group of 5 were assigned to 4 different parking areas. You don't have to understand this. This is Italy.

For the centenary kits and car stickers we again stood in line a long time - it was nice to get to know all the others in the line. The buffet started half an hour late and was completely empty after an hour - but we had a lot of fun. The waiters carried each tray separately for long distances (don't they have any trolleys in Italy?) and handed out drinks glass by glass. One person, one drink, one glass. We finally shouted at them and frightened them so deeply that in the end they gave us whole bottles of water and wine for our table. For those people being late at the gates only the floor remained to sit down having the scraps of the buffet. Funny enough, everybody we spoke to (British, Australian, Danish, Swiss, German and so on) said the same: What do you expect - this is Italy !! How true.

Nevertheless we had a very interesting day and the car park was certainly a sight. Some 2500 to 3000 Alfas of all kinds with some real beauties among them, even a hand full of pre-war Alfas had come all the way from Britain. A couple of brand new 8C Competizione's were also there. Unfortunately we almost couldn't stand the heat outside (more than 35°C) but I have to admit that the MAC Group cannot be made responsible for this.

Later, a group of 100 selected cars followed by the rest was supposed to drive to Milan City. But somehow the police didn't know anything about escorting a convoy. In the end, only the top 100 cars were lined up at the entrance of the castle in Milan. All others had to drive around and find a parking place in the city - after they had found out that the designated car park was closed. Surprisingly, only few local people came to watch the display at the castle. We had the impression that most people in Milan didn't know anything about the event or were not much interested. It's Italy, is it? The promised fireworks at night must have been a disappointment, too - we missed it but obviously missed nothing.

Percorso Tangenziale

On Sunday 27th and the last day in Milan a world record was planned: the embracement of Milan by Alfa Romeo cars. A good idea, but remember: it's Italy. We met at the show grounds again - not as many as the day before because a few already had given up. More than 1000 cars and all the crews came directly from breakfast - and no open toilets. Well, if the show grounds now have a certain smell, it's not our fault.

This time the police was leading the convoy - unfortunately much too fast and so it disassembled after a short while. We all didn't know where to go - only that we should follow the "tangenziale" which is the motorway around Milan. We stopped about half way round in a rest area - so far it was good - but then the whole convoy disintegrated somehow. We drove back to the show grounds to find closed gates and other helpless Alfisti, then tried the city with the same result, and then went back to the hotel.

Most of our group was already there being as perplexed as we. This was in fact the ending of a century event .. but remember, we are in Italy. Later we learned that the stop at the rest area had indeed been the very end of the show. We finally decided to complete the Italian experience with a silent afternoon, a good dinner and a wonderful tour back over the Alps to Munich.

People who have been there only for the weekend may have been disappointed. But we had a wonderful week despite the justifiable critique concerning the MAC Group. We met many nice people and made new friends. We had good company and enjoyed the huge international group from 54 countries having fun together with only one thing in common: an Alfa Romeo. And no matter how chaotic the Italians might be: we were, are and will be Alfisti and nothing can cure that. Even Ferdinand Piëch (head of VW/Porsche and grandson of Ferdinand Porsche) pointed out in an interview that for him Alfa Romeo is sure one of the strongest brands in the world.

Non-Alfa people may call us crazy but I doubt that any other car brand would be able to bring together so many people without the help of the car company itself. We will always remember that week - not only because we have made hundreds of photos - but because we love to be Alfisti under ALL circumstances !! We may be crazy, but we enjoy it !!