Fuoriserie - April 13-14, 2013
At the end of the first day of the Fair, as is tradition, we will gather to celebrate at a restaurant in Fiumicino with a delicious seafood dinner, extending the invitation to our friends from the Scuderia Jaguar Storiche and the Triumph TR Roman Club. This year, however, I've chosen a new, very special place, absolutely not to be missed, one I've already tried with excellent results. "Il" restaurant, which Tripadvisor ranks among the top 10 in Fiumicino (out of 186 reviews), is not very large (40 seats) and will be entirely reserved for us. Therefore, reservations will need to be received as soon as possible. For obvious organizational reasons, reservations cannot be accepted at the fair.
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Speaking of the Fair, as you know, this year we will be at Fuoriserie, in Pavilion 8, with two adjacent stands: one owned by the Club and the other, set up in collaboration with the Scuderia Jaguar Storiche and the Triumph TR Roman Club, entirely dedicated to British Day in Italy. Furthermore, on a personal level, I helped organize an interesting conference on road safety, with the participation of the ANIA Foundation, the Highway Police, the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, and final-year students from several secondary schools in Rome. The conference will take place in the same pavilion on Saturday, April 13th, at 10:00 a.m. All Friends are, of course, invited to attend.
See menu
Once the final touches have been dismantled and all the cars that had been livening up the show until a few minutes earlier have left, you find yourself alone inside the now-empty hall, filled with exhaust fumes from the recently unveiled vehicles, making the air unbreathable. Without even a chair to sit on, it's inevitable that all the fatigue accumulated during the preparations and the two days of uninterrupted presence inside the stand during the show will suddenly hit you. Once the tension has subsided, you want nothing more than to go home and sleep for a whole day, and you refuse to think about the next show and the next gathering you'll have to organize. What remains is the satisfaction of the event just concluded, especially when you realize the outcome was gratifying, mixed with concern for those to come. But when you know that the event you've just completed will most likely be the last one you'll personally organize, the fatigue inevitably mixes with a touch of sadness, and in a few moments you relive, like a movie flashback, all the moments of the event and those that preceded it. Then, in the days that follow, you find yourself at your keyboard, trying to draw a more serene summary of the event you've just concluded, and with a cool head, you try to translate it into written words for the benefit of those who didn't experience it. But the sentences struggle to form, and the screen remains blank for a long time, until you decide to forget about it and start typing the first text that comes to mind, convinced that you can't express the emotion you feel inside with the right words.
Despite the low attendance and number of registered members this year—an unmistakable symptom of a certain disaffection and diminished interest, perhaps also due to the ongoing economic recession gripping the country—it was, at least for us at the MG Car Club d'Italia, one of the finest Fuoriserie editions, with the possible exception of the truly epic one staged in 2008, thanks to Lucio's sponsorship. Our stands, created in collaboration and synergy with our friends at the Triumph TR Roman Club and Scuderia Jaguar Storiche, with whom we shared space and displays, including the one dedicated to British Day in Italy, were undoubtedly the most admired of the entire show, having constructed a giant island (a full 640 square meters) populated with vintage British cars right in the center of the pavilion dedicated to Clubs and Brand Registers. The Lazio Regional Centre of the MGCCI contributed seven cars of rare beauty: a '34 PA, a '48 TC, a '53 TD, a '54 TF, a '55 Magnette ZA and a '59 A, as well as a much admired '56 A which with its impeccable red livery completed, together with a blue Triumph TR 3 and a white Jaguar S-Type, the triptych of Union Jack colours characterising the British Day stand in Italy.
The beautiful cars were complemented on the afternoon of the final day by ten equally beautiful models, who lingered at our stand for a long time to have their portraits posed in a multitude of shots as they competed for the title of Miss Motorissima 2013, much to the delight of the male audience, including the few lucky members in attendance. For everyone else, this was yet another reason to regret not being able to attend the party.
A special thanks to Carlo, Ludovico, and Roberto who supported and put up with me in setting up and managing the stand, to Fabio, Francesco, Lucio, and Roberto who, together with the friends already mentioned, embellished it with their magnificent cars, to Guidetta, Silvia, and Stefania who provided us with comfort with their delicacies, to Sergio who hosted us in his restaurant in Fiumicino on Saturday evening to refresh us, at the end of a tiring first day of the fair, with a wonderful seafood dinner, and to all those who, in one way or another, even just through a visit, contributed to the success of the 2013 edition of Fuoriserie.
Claudio