Ferrari

Think I may know a few people back home that would have loved to been in my shoes today.
Alberto the 55 year old owner of the family agrotourism where we are staying has a Ferrari and wants to take me for a drive. Oh soooo Italian !!!

So it's a short drive up the hill to his huge industrial shed, the entrance gates open to the compound and in past two nasty big guard dogs (and you all know how I'm with dogs) so my window is up tight and I edge to the middle of the back seat. Sandy knowing I'm s--t scared....

The doors to the shed finally open and we drive in, the dogs are going OFF, Bea the daughter with stick in hand gets out of the car and gets the dogs out of the shed and the door to the shed are closed again as I told them why and how scared I'm of dogs. Granted theses ones have a job to do and doing it well... it's their place... not mine...
Over in the far corner a red spider Ferrari tucked into bed with her soft blankets loosely layer over her to keep her looking pristine.

Alberto is just like a kid and can't wait to uncover his toy, start to play and go for a drive. The blankets are gently taken off, folded away and the front boot is opened to show me his Ferrari racing jacket. Me doing all the right boy hand gestures ie thumbs up and big smiles ... Engine now started ... crap this thing makes a huge noise.
It's like ... well, it's a boy sound that is sure to impress and is the best way to describe it.

He tells me in his broken English and my even more totally broken Italian that he once traveled to Naples some 650 km away in 2 & 3/4 hours...thank heavens we both know how to speak in hand gestures, but this was when he first got her and the speed limits were not sooooo strict on the autostrada!!!! he says with a huge smile.
This man clearly loves speed and today I found that out.
Now he tells me it my turn ... Seriously ... Me ... In the drivers seat ...
Well I do have my international drivers licence ... So with some instruction from Alberto we open up the roof as I'm a bit to tall and a tad too big for such a sleek machine.

I'm paranoid that I will touch the wrong thing and we will be hurtled at great speed  into the air.
He assures me it will be ok ... But Alberto it's my first time ... be gentle with me... just put your foot down, and he gestures to put it down and put it down fast... His hand gestures are get more frantic... floor it...I can understand over the noise to reve it harder ... put your foot down ... SO I DO ... S--T it now makes some real noise,  the sound like we are breaking the sound barrier ...
So if I had hair the wind in my hair would be incredible ... what an experience, one that I won't ever forget.

So now as I climb back down the ladder from where the car is perched high above the factory floor I'm ever so grateful that I actually had the chance to even just sit in the drivers seat....but as the economy in Italy is still shot he has to look at her perched high over the factory floor, but can't drive her until his construction business and the economy picks up again.
I must admit if this thing made that much noise on the platform ... I would have been scared out of my brain if he was actually able to take me for a drive...

Prestige car tax and insurance that he could afford in the years past are now just a luxury, one that he can no longer afford.

The car is worthless today to sell as no one has the money in Italy and they who do won't pay what she is worth so she sits under cover on a platform in the back of his huge shed with all the construction toys that a company that used to employ 100 staff would have. Cranes, backhoes, scaffold stacked to the rafters and several huge trucks all sit idle, a big construction and economic grave yard.

Alberto is working hard and long days and now only has one employee so some bill can still be paid.
All the machinery now also worthless in today's economy, but he is lucky as he owns them all. He tells me he has had some fun in the past and has made serious money. But he still has his family, his farm with the agrotourism so he can sit it out, he gets some tax deduction and a little money from tourism and when the economic tide changes he WILL drive her again...