Interview by Francesca Navari - Photographs Annalisa Bugliani

They are the icons of a casual and chic vacation, tinged with summer vibes and freedom. So much so that they have become Luigi Zampaglione’s inescapable vehicles. Sixty-two years old and affectionately renamed “the top-speed notary” for his off-the-charts passion for four-wheels, he is a collector from Brescia of the legendary spiaggine beach cars. Capri, Saint Tropez, Monte Carlo, and Versilia are where these colorful and fun cars set the fashion. A twenty-year-old passion that has been making Zampaglione return to Forte dei Marmi with one of his most charming models: last year, he chose a cream-colored Mini-minor with a wicker interior and wooden curtain roof dated 1983 – one of only six in the world. How did the passion for these cars originate? “It started thirty years ago, but I don’t just own spiaggine. The first car I purchased was James Dean’s favorite Porsche 356 Speedster, with which I competed at the Mille Miglia race. I love racing.” What about this invaluable temptation to take them on vacation? “Spiaggine are very slow cars; they “suffer” on long drives, and honestly, the road from Brescia is tiring, but then it is such a bliss to drive them in the place where they fit in the most: the vacation spot.” Any misadventures? “I remember once being caught in a downpour along the Cisa motorway. I was driving a Volkswagen-powered Dune Buggy, the iconic vehicle from the movie “Watch Out, We’re Mad!”. It was such a feat to make it to Versilia. Still, also a fun adventure.” These are cars that are sure to arouse curiosity... “These types of means are very much liked, as many link them to the years of the economic boom, when Italian families had traditional Fiat 500 or 600s later transformed by skilled coachbuilders into special versions. To me, the ones that kept the wicker seats are sensational.” Do people in Forte now recognize you for this unique collection of yours? “They stop me all the time; some have even made me proposals of purchase along the road. The majority asks if they can take pictures: when I park one of my spiaggina at the Graziella beach club near the cabanas, there is always great excitement and no shortage of souvenir photos of newlyweds.” Is there a spiaggina still missing from your collection? “I am a car enthusiast and sometimes replace them. Still, there is no specific item that I am lacking. Prices are high and fluctuate among different models: a very peculiar one is the Fiat 600 Multipla, which can also be obtained at a reasonable cost. But for the uninitiated, the risk of fakes is always around the corner.”