The mountains are the Dolomites, located in the Veneto region of Italy which extends from Venice on the Adriatic to the Austrian border to the north. But all the action takes place between the charming medieval town of Bassano and the famed ski resort area of Cortina. The scenery and roads don’t come any better.

This perennial June event, invented by the Calmonte brothers, Danilo and Renato, seventeen years ago, was just held in Bassano from the 16th to 19th. It attracted 110 entries from seventeen countries, the farthest coming from Argentina and then from the United States, then Israel, Greece and a wealth of other EU countries. This year the Calmonte’s violated their own rule of ‘no more than 100 entries’ because of the demand and their desire to satisfy all. Thirty crews were newcomers, who immediately caught the spirit of the event, that it is not a race, but a gathering of friends that share the same passion, to spend time together in beautiful surroundings, and to enjoy the Italian cuisine and wine. And if you have a problem during the tour, others stop eager to help and let you continue this fabulous adventure. And if they can’t make things right the able chase mechanics Aldo Carrozzo and son Christian will. And as a last resort there is always the dreaded flatbed. Actually, this year it was more than an adventure as we had to cross eleven Dolomite passes, totaling more than 20,000 meters of up and down elevation change in the mountains.

Day # 1 – The event started on Friday morning in the beautiful courtyard of a 17th century Italian villa, where all the cars met for the start and the teams met for an outrageous outdoor buffet lunch. There we greeted old friends, met new ones and ate and drank to our Italian content. There were three teams from the US , all returning addicts: myself and mate Santo Spadaro, in a 1954 Arnolt Bristol ‘Bolide’, Ven Fonte and son Nick in a 1933 Alfa Romeo 1750 GS Touring and Frank and Louise Solano in a 1939 Lagonda Special. Dino Brunori and his son Carlo, from Brescia, campaigned again in their Nardi 750, a toy-size car. I continue to marvel at how the two can fit with helmets, face visors, rain gear, bottles of water, sponges and other essentials in a space so small and still be comfortable for 450 miles. Dino confessed, it is actually a jigsaw puzzle with no solution.
At 1:30 sharp, the field of cars, the oldest first, was ceremoniously flagged off at 30 second intervals. This was my third year and it still excites ! Sunscreen applied, we left Bassano in full sunshine to drive across the hillside vineyards of Valdobbiadene, the home of Prosecco, that sparkling aperitif wine now popular everywhere. Between two brief time trials, gift bottles and a tray of chilled Prosecco in flutes appeared for drivers and navigators, sure, why not ? Before reaching our evening destination, Alleghe, a small alpine town beside an immense emerald green alpine lake, rain came. The weather forecast predicted the change so we were ready for it, reaching Alleghe, a bit wet on the outside but dry on the inside. It was nothing compared with what was to come.

Day # 2 – Saturday morning, up and out for the epic part of the meet: 175 miles and eleven passes, including all the highest of the Dolomites, the acid test for cars and crew. But first the road entered a long, narrow and deep, deep canyon, called Serrai di Sottoguda, where we drove along the canyon floor for a mile or so, beside a small, roaring river with cascades and wooden bridges from one side to the other, feeling more like a scene out of Indiana Jones. Three hours of mountain passes in clouds gave way to drizzle as we stopped at noon for the traditional Italian lunch, planted at the table for two solid hours enjoying great course after great course.

Time up, party over, down an espresso and out the door and into the now steady rain. Steady soon became serious rain along with cold winds on top of the passes, with patches of fog here and there. Lights on, wipers on, if your barchetta has them. Ours did not. Break out the chamois’s and sponges. This is starting to look like a rerun of last year’s Mitiche Sport, if you recall: switchbacks, flower boxes, rain, mud, sheep, cows, church spires, alpine chalets, pine trees, rocks, wind, mountain huts, fog, bikers, lakes, all images etched in my memory from last year. But like last year, ‘only the brave survive’ and eventually we reached San Martino di Castrozza, our goal for the day. As if four hours in rain wasn’t bad enough, Dino and Carlo had a charging problem, stretching their afternoon leg into six, eventually rolling into a dark and lonely parking grid with the snack and Prosecco welcome station long since closed. Six hours would have been worse had angel Aldo not been there to provide his crack road service and avoid the flatbed. Grazie Aldo!

The reward for the wet day’s efforts was a hot shower and a wonderful dinner in a restaurant a short bus ride up the mountain. Once sitting beside a warm fireplace, eating the local gnocchi, called canederli, drinking wine, sipping grappa, surrounded by our Mitiche friends, the rain was soon forgotten. What more could one ask? A sunny day? Anybody could do it in sunshine!

Day # 3 – As much as the rain pounded and thunder clapped that night, the heroes of the rainy mountain passes awoke Sunday morning, party day, to blue skies and sunshine, making the final remaining leg into Bassano a breeze. The morning was made all the better with party #1, a planned stop at a roadside trattoria for traditional baccala chowder of the region and a drink. On to Bassano, for morning party #2, where the cars entered the Piazza Liberta, teeming with waving crowds, photographers, and more snacks, big bowls of cherries and more Prosecco. Once more, no shortage of great food and drink.

That party over, and on to the third and final, the killer of all Italian lunches, held at a medieval castle perched atop a steep hill in the next town over, Marostica. Imagine the best of Italian antipasti, and wine, on a private, shaded lawn in the side yard of a castle, then indoors to be served pasta, risotto, four roasted meats, real vegetables and wine, and you would have the lunch.

Le Mitiche Sport is, in a nutshell: great organization, rare and special vintage cars, roads, scenery, food, wine and people. If you have a vintage barchetta, there’s no better thing you can do. If you don’t have one, find one or a friend with one. See you next June !

Barchetta, as you know, means small boat and a boat has usually to do with water and it carries a couple of oars. Well, we had barchettas, we had water and the oars were the only missing pieces. Instead of the expected beautiful Italian weather of mid June, the rains came. It rained constantly, furiously, cats and dogs for two days and two nights. Temperature dropped from 24°C to 6°C on top of the Dolomite passes and we had to go across eleven of them. But the motto ‘only the brave (survive) …’ was written for the barchetta people of Bassano.

But what is Le Mitiche Sport a Bassano? Roughly, it means “Mythic Sport Cars in Bassano”. Bassano is more correctly Bassano del Grappa, and Grappa is a Brandy. It is an event born in the mind of two brothers, Danilo and Renato Calmonte, fond lovers of sports cars and particularly Maserati. In late 1993 they decided to gather a few of their friends who shared the same passion for a good two day run across the Italian Alps, with nothing else in mind that a good run, good food and great wines. Within a couple of years Bassano became a ‘must go’ for owners of classic sports cars. From the original thirty three entrants, today the number is capped at 100 which is about the physical limit, although the database of ASSI Club hosts more than 400 names of serious sports cars aficionados that have enjoyed the event. For a more complete history of the event, click here or go the LeMitiche Club site, here.

We’ve been to the event many times as I enjoy helping Danilo and the ASSI organization, which stands for Auto Storiche Sportive Italiane, the Club that organizes the event in Bassano, set up and run by the Calmonte brothers.

My son Carlo and I entered the event with our small Nardi 750. (Read review and buy Brunori’s Nardi book) It is the last barchetta built by the famous Turinese wizard in early 1955 and it is powered by a Crosley engine capable of 42 HP, that combined with a weight of 360 Kg, speed up the car to 150 km/h. Carlo did the most of the driving but unfortunately he does not hold a boat racing licence, so I suggested he not use full trottle to avoid problems with the coastguard patrol that we expected to meet at any moment! The only boring time for Carlo were the two hours spent in the hotel room once we arrived on the Saturday evening. We bet and he lost, so he had to dry all the gear and the helmets with the hair drier.

This year my friend Chuck Schoendorf from the US, who joined the gang for the first time last year, convinced three other American friends to come along. Chuck and co-pilot Santo Spadaro with an Arnolt-Bristol Bolide, was accompanied by Herb Wolfe and son Alden with a wonderful Cisitalia 202 MM Nuvolari, Elad Shraga and friend Ron with an OSCA MT4 and Ven Fonte and grandson Vincent with a pre-war Alfa. In addition was a pre-war Lagonda entered by the American team of Frank Solano and Nick Taylor.
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I asked Chuck to comment about his participation and here are some of his thoughts:

I specifically bought the Arnolt Bristol for Bassano. Last year I shipped a Lancia barchetta over for two vintage tours, Bassano being one of them. The Bassno event was so terrific that I immediately sought out another barchetta to buy and enter this year. The Arnolt was the result. I first saw and drove it last October up in Massachusetts and closed on it January. It had been a track car which we decommissioned a bit and tweaked for the purposes of country road tours. It turned out to be the perfect choice. We had zero problems with it.

And what of Bassano? Well, besides guaranteeing really sporty entrants, limiting the field to only barchettas means that if one team gets wet we all get wet, which we did, for two days ! The notion that misery loves company is exemplified by driving a barchetta in a downpour at Bassano.

Teams came from eleven countries, the farthest being the Argentines and next being the Americans, plus folks from Israel, Sweden and a mix of other European countries, bringing the total of non Italian participants up to 30 cars. ASSI Club is proud to have foreign teams and welcomes more Americans to attend, as shown by their making certain there were two English speaking Italians to meet us at the initial check-in and be available for the duration.

As for the field of cars, name a cool esoteric brand of barchetta, any etceterini, and it was probably there; Bugatti, Moretti, Cisitalia, Stanguellini, OSCA, Ermini, Nardi, Siata, Bandini, Stanga, Colli, Conrero, Giannini, Paganelli, Ortolani, Lancia, Amilcar, Rally, BNC, Lagonda, Riley, HRG, MG, Aston Martin, AC, Arnolt Bristol, BMW and one or more of them were all there, plus loads of the usual suspects, Ferrari (5) Maserati (6) and Alfa Romeo (7). (The entire list can be seen here.)

The event began with the 100 teams leisurely meeting up to check in over a two day period, at a charming and spacious estate at the edge of Bassano. At the driver’s meeting, before being ceremoniously launched at precisely timed thirty second intervals, a superbly prepared buffet lunch was served outdoors over a couple of hours. All subsequent meals for this moving mob, of over 250 people, were equally superb, as were the well planned snack stops between every two meals. Capping it off was the closing luncheon, the zenith of the apex of the epitome of the height of Italian gastronomy, taking place at a spectacular castle perched high above the medieval town of Marostica.

Without a doubt the ASSI Club has perfected the vintage car tour process. For a very reasonable price of about 1750 USD, they deliver three nights hotel accommodations, splendid food and wine, great organization, idiot proof route books and road markers, flawless logistics and baggage handling, and highly skilled tech support, all in a driving setting not to be beaten.

Overall mileage was a little bit over 250, which, given the ages of the cars, the challenging terrain, the breath stopping scenery, the schedule, the snack stops and the possibility of rain thrown in, is exactly the right amount.

Some things to keep in mind – be prepared to be spoiled for all time in Italian vintage car tours. Le Mitiche is as good as it gets for scenery, challenging driving, the field of cars, the thoughtful and friendly organization, sharp chase mechanics and the wonderful gastronomy. Just have rain gear, sponges and chamois’s handy!