Borghi e Palazzi

The 16^th edition of the Via Flaminia has the subtitle “Borghi e Palazzi” or “villages and palaces”. We will be staying in restructured villages and palaces, which is a word used widely in Italy and refers to large (family) mansions.

The rally starts at a Villa San Paolo in the commune of San Gimignano at a short distance from the Firenze Airport. We will be bringing your classic car to the airport and you should be in time at the hotel to indulge at the pool.

The next day, on Sunday, we will be crossing the Apennines to the east. A very nice drive, leaving Tuscany and taking the smaller roads gently climbing into oblivion, leaving civilisation behind us, replacing traffic for cows and old Fiat 500’s.

Our destination is a picture-book perfect walled village, which has been converted to accommodate guests. How come I haven’t found this gem before? For two nights we take much of this hill-perched village for ourselves and will be discovering the surrounding Marche region on the next day. Ranges of lush hills with the Adriatic as backdrop are the setting for our trip.

From the Marche we drive back over the Apennines into Umbria and we come to a marvel, which even surpasses the previous village. This fortified village is often used for weddings. It is well rebuilt to modern standards and even has a swimming pool. The next morning we will have a short drive leaving the option to you to either indulge at the pool or discover Orvieto at a few kilometres from our village.

After two nights in Umbria we drive east towards our beloved Abruzzo. We stay in the absolutely fabulous village of Santo Stefano. It has been restructured to high standards while leaving the authentic aspect.

The next day we drive up the Gran Sasso planes, a region, which was famous for the quality of wool provided by its sheep and which was part of the state of Florence. This is also why the villages were relatively rich. Personally I must have driven there over 50 times, each time the light and vegetation is different, it keeps on fascinating me. Several years ago we stopped with the Via Flaminia for a barbecue. This has granted me friendship and indefinite free lunches it seems. Now it is time to pay back their hospitality with another barbecue in the middle of the mountains.

The last hotel is a castle/palace. We stayed there some 10 years ago. The swimming pool was the scene of some of the best “after rally” fun.

The next morning it is only a small drive to the Airport of Pescara where we will pick up your car.

As always, the Via Flaminia is a layback rally where the competition serves the atmosphere, winning is not a goal on itself. Those who want to have a stop for a coffee can do so. No time constraint. The classification is done via navigation and the competition for the last place is sometimes fierce. For those who are more competitive there is a Sport-class.

There are 28 entry positions for cars up to 1980.

For teams who’s added age is under 100, there is a discount of 1% for each year less then 100, with a maximum of 20% (reference year 2020). They may also bring a younger car, one year per 2 years younger then 100.