Historic shops and their vintage cars parade for the Eternal City's elderly

ROME — There is something deeply Roman about the idea of parading a 1928 Fiat past the Colosseum, or halting traffic around the Circus Maximus to let through a 1931 Ford Model A Roadster, the sole foreign entry in an otherwise all-Italian procession. That was the scene that unfolded in the heart of the capital last Sunday, as 22 of Rome's oldest shops — pastry makers, gelato parlours, pharmacies and tailors passed down through three generations — took part in a parade of 15 vintage cars in what organisers billed as the first event of its kind in the city's history.

 The event, named "Motori d'Eccellenza. Roma Solidale in Movimento" ("Motors of Excellence. Rome United in Solidarity") and organised by the Association of Historic Shops of Excellence of Rome, formed part of the Italian Motor Week calendar and secured the backing of Anci Città dei Motori and the Metropolitan City of Rome. But behind the polished chrome and vintage engines lay a far less nostalgic goal: raising funds for the Fondazione Banca delle Visite ETS, a charity that provides free specialist medical visits to elderly Romans in financial difficulty.

 The cars gathered at 9am in Piazza della Bocca della Verità, before the convoy, escorted by local police, set off ninety minutes later along a route designed to take in the city's landmarks: from the Celio to the Aventine hill, through Trastevere, up the Gianicolo and along the Tiber embankments to Piazza del Popolo, before continuing down Via Veneto and past the Quirinale presidential palace. The vehicles then stopped for two and a half hours in Piazza SS. Apostoli, where hundreds of Romans and tourists gathered to admire them, before a final stop at Palazzo Valentini for an awards ceremony hosted by journalist and content creator Giorgia Giangrande.

 The cars on display told a story spanning almost four decades of Italian industrial history: eight Fiats, three Lancias, one Alfa Romeo, and one Ford, with the 1930s—represented by six vehicles—emerging as the best-represented decade.

Shopkeepers as guardians of memory

 To take part, each business had to prove it had operated in the same trade for at least 70 years and been run by the same family across three generations — criteria the association, founded in 2008, applies strictly. Among the participants were names that function as civic institutions rather than mere shops: Giolitti, the gelateria that has served generations of Romans steps from the Pantheon; Babington's, the tea room founded by two Victorian Englishwomen beside the Spanish Steps; and Il Vero Alfredo, the trattoria that claims to have invented fettuccine Alfredo.

 "For some time we had felt the need to pair our commitment with charitable work for the local community," said Stefano Pizzolato, the association's president. "We chose to dedicate this initiative to the elderly because they represent our past: supporting them today is, for us, an act of gratitude towards those who made us who we are."

 Michela Dominicis, president of the Fondazione Banca delle Visite ETS, described the shopkeepers' association as "a presence so deeply rooted in the community, and always attentive to its wellbeing."

 A future among the "motor cities"?

 Danilo Moriero, director of Anci Città dei Motori, hinted the event could be a first step toward something more permanent: "We imagine this day could pave the way for Rome's future entry into our network," he said, referring to the association of Italian cities linked by automotive heritage.

 The awards ceremony also drew several political figures, including Pierluigi Sanna, deputy mayor of the Metropolitan City of Rome, Antonio Stampete, head of the city council's public works committee, and senator Maurizio Gasparri — evidence, organisers said, of the broad political support the initiative had attracted.

 Whether the event will return next year has yet to be confirmed. But for one Sunday at least, Rome's vintage cars and centuries-old shopfronts found common ground: a shared conviction that the city's history — automotive, commercial and human — deserves to be celebrated, and that doing so might also do some good for those who lived that history first.