The Mille Miglia

One of the vintage vehicles from the Mille Miglia.

Thursday morning I woke up early and cycled through to the next town, Pedemonte, for a job interview at Cantina Bolla. After the meeting I was put in contact with a South African girl, Alma, who is a wine maker and working in the Veneto, on the east side of Verona. After phoning her for some advice about where to go with finding work on vineyards, she kindly invited me to join her and some friends for drinks and dinner in Verona.

At the moment there is a race happening in Italy called the Mille Miglia (1000 miles). It is one of the most prestigious car races in the entire world, and I was privileged enough to experience it last night. It was absolutely incredible. It is a vintage car race, and participation is only allowed if one's vehicle was built between the years of 1927 and 1957. I was also lucky enough to see my favourite vehicle in the world, the Jaguar XK120, which was manufactured between 1948 and 1954. Also present was the original Mercedes 300SL, the vehicle which the modern Mercedes Gullwing is based on. I also got to cheer Rowan Atkinson on in his 1957 BMW coupe. Unfortunately, I have discovered Spritz over here, and it seems to be all the rage for Summer. Needless to say, there weren't too many photographs taken due to me being a little preoccupied with this beverage. After the race, I was treated to an amazing dinner at the Osteria la Pignia with my new friends, as well as a winetasting of the Valpolicella produce. I'm not one hundred percent what it all meant though, they all just started shouting at one another and comparing glasses!




Alma and Michele.

 

In the Osteria la Pignia.