Fellini & Fiats

After spending a pleasant afternoon vintage shopping, I was walking back to my car when I saw this charming little 1960s Italian Fiat 500, in pristine condition, as if it had just time travelled almost sixty years into the future.  

Looking at this lovely car conjured so many wonderful memories.  I learned how to drive in my father's 1966 Mustang and I can still remember the sound of the heavy metal door closing, rolling down the windows on a hot summer day, and searching for music on the AM only radio. Driving a vintage car from the 1960s is a unique visceral experience that can never be felt in modern computerized cars that use advanced electronics, autonomous sensors, and the Internet to navigate.

It also reminded me of watching 1960s European art house films in college for my aesthetics of film classes,  like Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960). Federico Fellini was an Italian film director and screenwriter who transformed 1960s Italian cinema by replacing linear storytelling with episodic plots blended with surreal fantasy, symbolism, and realism.  For Fellini, the Fiat was more than just a prop, it was a lens into Italian society. As the ultimate symbol of urban life during post World War II, the Fiat was an everyday car that helped balanced his extravagant, surreal cinematic fantasies with relatable authenticity that captured the essence of the 1960's Italian middle-class.  

It is no surprise that Fellini cast the Fiat in many of his films.  What is likelihood that this little Fiat was featured in a Fellini film? Considering millions of Fiat 500s were built in the 1960s, the probability is slim, but it's nice to dream.