Hidden Treasures – Giro della Valle del Liri

Imagine, if you will, that you’re a mechanical engineer. You’re gainfully employed but you have a burning passion for motoring and classic cars. One day you discover a Lancia Aurelia B20 that needs total restoration so you buy it and decide to rebuild the engine on your own. For the next four years you get stuck in and spend all your winter weekends on it, all the while following the meticulous bodywork refurbishment undertaken by an artisan coachbuilder. Your dream is to take part in the Mille Miglia with your 21 year old daughter, simultaneously transmitting that love for old motors to the next generation…

Well, that’s who we assigned the coveted Car & Classic Trophy to at the Giro della Valle del Liri, the latest Asi Circuito Tricolore event that we were a part of from the 27th to the 29th of September. Enthusiast Dario Margaritelli, who actually made it with two daughters, as he joked: “One in meat and bones and one made of steel, aluminium and rubber!”, was the recipient for his beautiful Aurelia.

A 9th series of the masterpiece of elegance that was the Italian industrial bourgeois car of the ’50s was a sight to behold amongst the well known beauty of the Ciociaria region, which extends itself around Frosinone, in the south of Rome, and includes the spectacular Liri Valley which gives name to the ASI event. Hosted by Camef-Club Auto Moto Epoca Frosinate the territory is rich of history, magnificent landscapes and landmarks and the Lancia fitted right in.

It’s an area still relatively untouched as far as the classic holiday destinations in Italy go and it’s mostly ignored by Italian tourists as well when in reality it’s actually a truly fantastic and enchanting place. Since the ancient Romans until the most recent past, it conserves many traces of its precious heritage in its buildings and towns, but most of all we can say it’s a land of mysticism, what with its wild mountains and small, charming villages.

We visited a couple of important abbeys, starting with the huge one in Trisulti, founded in Medieval times by Cistercian friars and still inhabited by the last of them until just a few months ago. Among its nooks and crannies are the pool, the pharmacy that still keeps all of the herbs and medicines that the religious used to prepare themselves, the Italian style gardens, and the wonderful panorama all around. It’s an incredibly spiritual and isolated place that’s definitely worth a visit to immerse yourself in a fascinating past.

The Giro della Valle del Liri was based in the town of Fiuggi, with its Liberty architecture, grand hotels and nice roads full of shops, allowing one to stroll in a holiday atmosphere that evokes a bygone era from the beginning of the last century, when people used to come here to spend their time off, taking the healthy mineral waters for which the location is famous. Not far from there, one of the most spectacular views you can enjoy in the area is the that of the Isola del Liri falls, where all the participants in the ASI event just had to take a picture of themselves while crossing the bridge with their cars. The glorious sunshine that bathed the area in beautiful, warm light at that very moment made everything feel just that little bit more cheerful and indeed unforgettable.

A definite “money shot” moment, it’s not everyday that you find a superb noble villa with a waterfall that seems to be an intrinsic part of the building itself it in central Italy. But then that’s the aim of the ASI Circuito Tricolore series: to combine the passion for motoring with the very best locations, traditions and food & wines that Italy has to offer.

Another highlights of the territory that the crews could enjoy among a regularity trial test (one of two over the weekend) was the small town of Arpino, that still offers the view, among other beauties, of an authentic Roman road with its sewer in the middle of the main square. Not only that, but the place is also famous for having given birth to celebs like Marcello Mastroianni and slightly before him, the Roman politicians Cicerone and Caio Mario. Also another cinema legend, the director Vittorio De Sica, was born not far from there.

Over 60 teams took part in the Giro, arriving from many parts of the country, even from as far afield as Sicily, and every single person involved was stunned by this part of the “Boot”, where foreigners have only recently started to discover as a “buen retiro” or a lifetime move. There were cars of all eras, with the eldest of the bunch being two 1934 Fiats, a three-speed 508 model, the famous Balilla, and a fabulous red racing version of the same model: a Balilla Coppa d’Oro, that of course was elected as on of the “queens” of this great gathering.

It was definitely a top event and one that’s in its 23rd edition, proof indeed of its popularity. We now know what makes it so special.

Photos by Roberto Deias