In a small Italian village, there was an old man named Giuseppe who had spent most of his life as a mechanic. Giuseppe was a very skilled man and had a great love for classic cars, in particular for the classic Fiat 500. He loved them so much, because they reminded him of his youth, and because he had learned to be a mechanic working on classic Fiats 500
One day, as he was walking through the streets of the village, he saw an old Fiat 500 parked in a driveway on the side of the road. It was in terrible shape, covered with so many random objects, with faded paint and flat tires. Giuseppe knew he had to have it.
He knocks on the door of that house to ask for information on the unfortunate Fiat 500. A boy in his thirties opens the door for him. He said he didn’t know much about that piece of scrap metal. It had been his grandfather’s, but then it had been parked there for years. He told Giuseppe that shortly thereafter they would come to pick her up to take her to the landfill. Giuseppe asked if he could take her away. The boy happily agreed that he didn’t have to pay a tow truck to have her taken away.
Once brought home, Giuseppe spent the following 8 months restoring her and bringing her back to life. Now, even though there was still some work to be done, that Fiat 500 looked like a true work of art: fresh paint, redone engine, clean interior.
Giuseppe loved his classic Fiat 500 as if it were a member of his family. He used it every day to go to the town square and attended all the gatherings in its vicinity. His Fiat 500 was always the most admired at every event.
Unfortunately, one day Giuseppe fell seriously ill and did not have enough time to complete the final restoration of his beloved Fiat 500. After his death, the Fiat 500 was left in a garage, forgotten and neglected. History, sadly, repeated itself. More years of neglect would follow, making it lose, for the second time, the beauty and splendor that the loving care of its owners had given it.
But one day, a young vintage car enthusiast, Marco, entered the garage and noticed the Fiat 500. It was in bad condition, but Marco knew it was a special car, he knew its history. He decided to buy it and restore it in honor of Giuseppe.
He spent months working on the car, repairing every piece and caring for it with love and attention. In the end, the Fiat 500 came back to life, as splendid as it had been in the 1960s. Marco attended a classic car event in Giuseppe’s village and brought his beloved Fiat 500 as a tribute to the man who had loved it so much.
The elders of the village recognized the car and remembered Giuseppe. Their eyes filled with tears as they saw the refurbished Fiat 500, shining in the sun, in a tribute to a man who had spent his life repairing and restoring classic cars.
Marco knew that the car was much more than just a piece of metal: it was a treasure, a memory of a person he had loved and who had lived his life appreciating the beauty of the simplest things. And so, Giuseppe’s vintage Fiat 500 lived on, bringing joy and happiness to all who saw it.
What you have just read is a fictional story, but which takes its cue from the many stories that, thanks to our work, we have heard over the years. We like to think that for every Fiat 500 that we finds a new owner, there is a Giuseppe who, from up there, looks at his Fiat 500 and smiles, and maybe even a little moved.