The Italian Job Part Eight

Signposts for Como prove irresistible on this i.orious evening. Besides, we’d much rather stay η Italy than Switzerland. Parked up in a hotel near Tremezzo, the GTVs compact character looks lost between MPVs and new Mini Cooper. The bland moderns only flatter the supremely elegant Guigiaro-designed form of Alfa’s best-looking post-war coupe. For the next two days, whichever the angle, we never tire of its clean, balanced proportions. There are few more rewarding cars to wake up to drive and, after minutes on the road, life feels near perfect. Great classics charm you that way.Even at dawn, the route around the lake and over to Lugano to join the E3 5 is plagued with big trucks and frustrated commuters with similar ideas of beating the rush hour. Two hours later we pull up for petrol just before the St Gotthard tunnel but immediately afterwards miss the poorly marked turning for the historic pass and pull a quick U-turn in the tunnel. A very bad move. The Swiss police are not amused, and turn increasingly grave when the computer search confirms we’re not the registered owners.