I remember that growing up, my mother had a green Fiat 500, just like the one in the picture above, she used to drive my friends, siblings, and me to the seaside. We never thought the car was small: the car represented fun for us.

Italy was experiencing an economic boom at that time so most middle-class families, like mine, had a second car — the large car for family vacations and the small city car for . . . the wife (yes this was the 1950s and that was the way it was.. not quite right but at least women could drive in Italy in the 1950s.