I seriously have loved this car since my first trip to Italy, almost 20 years ago. The Fiat 500, said cinquecento (CHEEN-kway-CHEN-toh).
Isn’t it beautiful?
I even had this photo of one on the homepage of SaraRosso.com for years and years. License plate courtesy of a little photo retouching. :)
I really love the old vintage version, though the new version has its own appeal (you can see the contrast below – vintage on the left, new on the right). It looks pretty cute covered in snow! The cars were originally manufactured from 1957 to 1975, and the newer model debuted in 2007, on its 50th anniversary.
But I know I’ll someday have one of the old ones.
Especially in the south, you can find some really great 500 models still being driven every day.
If you look closely while in Italy, you can even find the Fiat cremino by Majani, which were originally created to celebrate the launch of the Fiat Tipo 4 automobile way back in 1911. I personally prefer the Fiat Noir which is dark chocolate. Here below is the “Cinquino” is filled with Fiat Cremino.
What about you? Are you a fan of the vintage 500 or would you take a new one, too?
Looks like a wannabe VW Beetle ;)
@Mo – much smaller :) But yes, it was definitely designed similarly to it.
Yeah, love ’em. So much in fact that last year I bought the modern version 500C convertible which has been great recently now we’ve actually seen some summer in the UK!
@Bill – wow! Jealous – what color?
LOVE LOVE LOVE them!
i watched two guys lift a 500 in rome so it would fit into a miniscule parking place.
i love the eyebrows on the new 500.
@Nancy – Nice! That definitely needed a picture to remember :)
I don’t find it to be a VW beetle wannabe, especially when compared to the other cars in Europe in the 50s. Anyway, they are lovely. I learned driving on one of those in the early 90s. Because I’m tall, my head touched the sunroof. Sometimes for fun, I put a cushion under the seat to raise me enough so that my whole head would stick out of the sunroof… so much fun!
I must admit Fiat did a great job modernizing these. A similar one, although it came later, was the Bianchina or later on the Innocenti A112, reminiscent of a mini.
@Thomas – all the way out the roof? haha! Again, I want pics of these stories :)
As Italian as a Vespa.
@Mark – definitely!
i’ve taken fotos of cinquecenti all over italy! Love them. There are so many cute ones in Puglia. A pizzeria in Vancouver has a little orange one like the one in your foto. it’s soooo adorable!
You see the new ones quite often around, at least here in the north of Italy. I like the renewed version better, than the one of the VW beetle. However, there is not much space inside :( Still, a fan of retro!
@Stefanie – right, the space in the new one is probably its best selling point :)
I’ve always wanted one – I don’t like the new ones but a vintage one? Oh my! I’d have it in a really bright red – I’ve actually been contemplating buying one for a while now so perhaps I’ll take the plunge!
@Mrs M – bright red is beautiful…
the yellow one is so cute! i have my heart set on a Mini Cooper – yellow – some day.
@Jaime – I’m not usually a fan of yellow but I think that car and the 500 can definitely pull it off :)
White, with a cinnamon roof.
It makes a bit sad that I can’t indulge in a FIAT of any sort once I move. Despite 20 years of US driving Italy will consider us “new drivers” and limit us to what looks like station wagons with tiny engines. (Ironically none of the allowed cars are made in Italy.)
Oh thank goodness. Now I feel lie I can come out of the loser about my Fiat 500 fetish. Hi, my name is Beverly and I’m a freak about cinquecentos. Thank you for sharing. When’s the next support group meeting?
@Beverly – Welcome, Beverly! We meet each month behind the used Fiat 500 lot ;)
Hi, just found your blog, it’s lovely. : ) I have to take a photo whenever I see an old model Fiat 500 in Italy too. I love them and the brighter the colour the better!
I actually prefer the new model. We belong to a car share in Milano and chuckled when we saw that the Fiat 500 is not the smallest car on their ‘hire list’! We took one for the weekend and loved it.
Old fiat 500 is really nice, the same is fiat 126p. Finally cute :) Eliza
Driving one of these you can feel Lupin the Third !!!