Trentino

Another one of my favourite regions is Trentino in the very north of Italy. Trentino is green and white, fresh and clean, full of flowers in the summer and no doubt full of snow in the winter (although I haven't been in winter time yet - sigh).

In July 2013, my other half and I embarked on a two day tour of the area along with Italy's BMW Youngtimer's Club. It was a great weekend and we crossed over the Trentino borders into the Veneto and Brescia at various points of the trip.

The journey began with a breakfast of brioche and coffee at a service station as we waited for the collection of classic BMW cars and their proud owners to congregate on the forecourt. One by one the cars arrived and people bustled about discussing the technicalities of each car model and admiring everything from the paint job, body work, headlights, steering column, interior upholstery  and so on.

Around 10.00am, the maps were consulted, itinerary packs were distributed and the route was confirmed. Everyone back to the cars for the off. (We didn't have a classic BMW but a little royal blue Alfa Romeo Spider, the absolute pride of my partner!)

The drive was superb!

Mountain scenery, fresh crisp air, flashes of blue sky lying behind masses of white, dense clouds. We passed waterfalls, streams, forests, cattle on the roads, goat herders and and array of timber homes adorned with bright pink flowers. This is an interesting region were you are as likely to see and hear German as you are Italian.

 


Now, I am not one for speedy driving and luckily managed to persuade my partner that he would do well to take the curves at a steady pace in order to avoid having to clean up sick from his checkered seats. However, the boys and their BMWs were there for one thing and one thing only - to put their cars through there paces on the winding mountain roads of the Trentino region.

The head of the group had the organisation down with typical German precision and he had planned many finely timed pit stops that allowed everyone to take in the spectacular views and of course further discuss the ins and outs of each classic car. There were around 15 BMWs in this group, all following each other along the roads and so as you can imagine, we attracted the attention of passers by and tourists, who came to chat with the owners, take photographs and satisfy their curiosity with questions about engines, value, origins and so on.

As evening fell, we made our way to Val Pusteria in Alto Adige were we stopped for the night at a hotel overlooking a lake...

The view from the terrace belonging to the room.