We set off from Verona early in the morning to avoid the city traffic and managed to get out of the city quickly. We then set off on the road to Torento and the official start of the Italian Job run. Just as we got into Torento we saw a mini in front of us so we started following them to the Hotel. We suddenly saw there German licence plates and wondered if they were actually on the run!?!? We managed to catch up with them and saw their door stickers with confirmed they were on the run and they lead us to the Hotel.
We got there on time and saw the event organiser Freddie who gave us warm welcome. We went straight to the car scruetinering and had a nervous moment while they checked out the lights, the indicator worked, hurray!!!! A shake of all the wheels and we passed the check.
We then had to go into the hotel to register, which was just showing our driving licenses, insurance and registration. They then gave us the 2004 program and our Italian Job Caps and two bottles of wine that we were told were for when we got back to Brighton (Hmmmmmm). We then had to wait an hour for our room to be ready, but it was well worth the wait, as you can see below:
Hotel Room:
View from the room:
Fancy bathroom:
We then went for our lunch (Free), which was pizza and sat next to a nice couple from Glasgow who were both civil engineers. Chatted for the whole time we were there.
Straight after lunch we had a tour of Terento by a local guide, we went up to the Castello del Buonconsiglio, which is where the Prince Bishops used to rule from, from there we went to the main square for a drink and then to the Cathedral Di S. Vigilio, which had an alter that is similar to the one in Rome, apparently.
Castle:
Castle View:
Terento Frescos:
Cathedral Alter:
We then headed back to the hotel and had the official welcome the 2004 Italian Job, this started with a talk from the local dignitaries and then a few songs performed by the Piccole Colonne Childerens Choir, one of which was Imagine, we then had an introduction to the road book, see below:
After that we had our evening meal and a few drinks………..only a few!
We then did a few bit to the car to prepare for the next day, we put the race numbers on and fitted the CB radio aerial (supplied by www.cbradio4minis.co.uk)
We then decided as it was 12 and we had to be up at 7 we had better call it a night!
