James May was long a proponent of what he called “Christian motoring,” in which being kind, allowing others to merge in front of you, and generally being nice actually makes driving more pleasant. As it turns out, if you practice “Christian motoring” in Rome, you might still get fed to the lions. In the most recent clip promoting his new series, James May: Our Man In Italy, he gets a driving lesson from a Roman actress named Guia Scognamiglio.
Although she insists on driving him to Rome, she does hand him the wheel of their Fiat Panda once there. When he finally takes the wheel, it’s rather surprising. May is completely transformed from Captain Slow into Captain Aggro and almost immediately takes off flying, causing Scognamiglio to wince with panic. She squirms in her seat just like a parent teaching their child to drive, and it may ultimately be as a result of May’s expectations of the city.
