THE SQUADRIFOGLIO TOUR 2020
Imagine this: in autumn 2019 I came together with a bunch of random Alfa Romeo drivers for the first time, then we experienced the Alps for three days on a unique roadtrip. And during those three days we had developed a friendship, in someways almost a family like bonding, and this feeling of belonging just gave us a name: THE SQUADRIFOGLIO! Because what defines us all is that we have the same weakness in common: we are hopelessly and crazy addicted to the adrenaline rush the roaring V6 Quadrifoglio gives us! We just knew at that point that we wanted to continue our adventure. We had to!
Passionate about what we had began, we started our plannings early. New exciting destinations, demanding routes were almost finalized, we even extended the tour to four days! Early 2020 we had our concept already sketched, to be exact... but then we all nearly went crazy and lost hope when COVID-19 hit Europe. Unsure when we would be allowed to get together as a group again. Uncertain when we even could cross the borders to Switzerland, Austria or Italy again. We were anxious that our trip would need to take a pause this year, when our great story just was beginning…
With the arrival of September the pandemic situation luckily had gotten better and we decided that the 2020 edition of our tour will happen, we should find a way to experience an awesome Squadrifoglio roadtrip once again. So six weeks later we met again,in Lindau, on a cold Friday morning, the 16th of October - even with two new members, I was driving my own car this time! Only the weather god wasn’t as pleased with us, because the usual car wash ritual was all of a natural kind this time - thanks to the rain all the morning. We even had to change our first day’s route last minute, because of fresh snow in Austria which made some passes were out of reach. So it took us some time through Swiss villages until we reached our first alpine mountain roads, leading us from Davos to the Engadin Valley over the snowy Flüela Pass.
At 2383m alttitude the clouds hid the mountain tops around us so well, I felt like I was drive into another world. The sound of the engines echoed from the invisible cliffs as the seven Quadrifoglios and my Veloce paced over the foggy pass. It must have sounded like roaring thunders through the misty mountains. The good thing was, we almost had the pass to ourselves. Because hardly anyone was crazy enough to drive this route under this condition. But we seemed to have a good connection to the Alfa Romeo god (or godess?) a very good one. Fortunately the road up here was almost dry and totally free of snow. It’s obviously a good thing for such a trip into the unknown to have so many cars with lucky badges around.
Through the Engadin Valley over the Passo dal Fuorn we continued our route South East, heading towards Val Müstair and the Umbrail Pass. Up here we had some snow again, spectacular views and then suddenly the bad news from Carlo: he had a major issue with the front right tire of his Rosso Alfa Giulia Quadrifoglio... immediately the squad stopped in the middle of nowhere on Passo Umbrail. A big rock had hit his wheel and the tire was heavily damaged. Impossible for him to continue the climb up the pass and to reach our first destination - Bormio. It was already late in the afternoon and we could see some snowy clouds approaching menacing. So we put his car into the snow on the side of the road and rushed to Bormio, now with one car less and some cars’ brakes almost incandescent. But not without a solution to save Carlos’ Giulia and their trip. In Bormio we took off a wheel of Salvos’ Giulia in a local tire shop, convinced its owner to make the impossible and bring two new front tires until the next morning and afterwards four of the guys headed back on top of the mountain with Tonio’s Stelvio and changed the wheel right there in the snow, in the middle of Passo Umbrail before it had gotten dark. That’s my squad, we would never let anyone behind. It was a crazy plan but it worked!
The next morning we continued our tour, Carlo with two new front tires and we were back to full strength with the complete Squadrifoglio: six Giulia Quadrifoglios, one Stelvio Quadrifoglio and my fierce Giulia Veloce Ti. And on this Saturday Italy welcomed us with a golden autumn, warm sunshine and a blue sky.
With a short morning run and detour back on top of Passo Stelvio we then started our tour towards the next destination, Riva del Garda. And our route first led us over the beautiful Passo Mortirolo with its awesome alpine panoramic view.
Pacing up the narrow roads through the forests up to Mortirolo felt magnificent! My little Giulia mixing it with her bigger sisters, furiously climbing up the mountain, speeding full of confidence out of every serpentine with her Q4 drive. She demonstrated an impressive performance, chasing the double as powerful Quadrifoglios as if she also seemed to have that engine power. With the windows down, I really felt it working. This thrilling atmosphere with all that engines roaring, tires squeaking and the route announcements over the radio, I felt like in the middle of a Mountain Rally. Steering my Veloce as precise as possible around every bend, pushing the throttle to the fullest, playing with the short gears through the shift paddles and sometimes even her rear got a little twitchy. It was spectacular! I couldn’t stop grinning all the time. This joy while driving and working the car in that way - that was her and my nature! That is where this Giulia belongs, and surprisingly we could keep up pretty well. Even after the first day the others were already impressed. And to be fully honest, in every corner where the Quadrifoglio drivers sometimes fought with the nervously and heavily twitching rear of their cars, my Giulia just pushed herself forward with a bold engine growl. I was over all means so proud of her. And so happy I brought my Bella with me this year.
After Mortirolo we drove further to Passo Tonale, where there was some snow again and then South towards the beautiful Lago di Garda. And the deeper we drove into Italy, the closer we got to Lago di Garda, the looks of the people got more amazed, happier and astonished when our Squadrifoglio passed them through all the Italian villages.
Especially when we came by some cyclists on some narrow mountain roads, they even stopped in anticipation when they heard us coming and pulled out their smartphones in haste to capture our glorious raid with cheers and laughter. The most significant and totally unplanned for meeting we had in a small village 30km from Riva del Garda. While we stopped for a short break to cool off our cars, suddenly a Rosso Competizione Giulia Quadrifoglio on Italian plates came around the corner and stopped in front of us. It was one of our followers on Instagram who hoped we would drive by his area so he can meet us!
For us it was a very nice surprise to see how this great connection already exists from some of our few fans to our Squadrifoglio. We never would have thought that our just one year short story will inspire Alfisti in Italy that much, that somebody would wait for our arrival.
So day two ended with reaching the beautiful city of Riva del Garda. Our final destination was on the shores of the lake, everybody had a small bottle of Sardinian Ichnusa beer while enjoying the sunset. Happy smiles, relaxed faces and joyful laughter amongst everyone. We loved our group, the tour, our cars and everything was just like last year. Perfect! I didn’t realise until now how much did I really missed the Mediterranean vibes of Lago di Garda and Italy, to me it always feels so much like home when I’m here. And I wouldn’t have thought I will really stand again here this year, thinking back at what had happened in the last months.
Day three was the more relaxed one. After a short trip to Limone sul Garda for some ice cream and coffee …okay yes, and of course also to follow the trails of a famous and legendary British-Italian car pursuit in the James Bond „Casino Royale“ film… we continued our tour towards Merano.
On this Sunday there was a bit more traffic on the main roads, so our route led us to some small country roads where we could let our thoroughbred Italian biscioni run free and unrestrained along the narrow winding roads. While heading North we passed the beautiful Lago di Tobolino and Trient.
With the city behind us, we drove further East and made a wide and really stunning detour to the beautiful roads of the Dolomites. On this route we came by beautiful spots like the pyramids of Segonzano and drove over the stunning Passo Valles. When we turned back west in Moena we were in the middle of awesome typical Dolomite mountains. Amazed by the landscape we drove the magnificent Passo di Costalunga during sunset. Perfect autumn weather, soft sunlight and awesome roads - just perfect conditions for our Italian rallye machines to shake up the alpine idyl a bit. When we reached the top and before we continued our way further to Merano, Tonio even had the opportunity to play a little in the snow with his Stelvio.
Then suddenly it was Monday …had we really again reached the grande finale of our Squadrifoglio tour 2020? Some kind of sadness sneaked into each one of us. Luckily we also had one last highlight everyone was looking forward to, which was prepared by Daniel (our tour guide) for this meaningful last day. A final glorious raid to Austria over the famous Passo Rombo under extraordinary perfect conditions! Warm sunny weather and dry roads! Our summer tires loved it! And one last time the Squadrifoglio rushed up the mountain pass, our beautiful Italian machines roaring and rumbling, pushing higher like a force of nature, with the happiest petrolheads on earth behind every steering wheel.
One year ago on the first unique adventure of the Squadrifoglio in 2019, we all desperately had fallen in love. And also this year we once more had fallen in love enjoying breathtaking landscapes, stunning roads, our beautiful powerful cars and the good company of other great people we now call friends. That’s why we will continue doing our tour. Again in early Autumn 2021, with new routes, maybe some new cars but again with my beloved family of Squadrifoglio. As we are: Daniel with his (hopefully) new 2021 (-ochre GT Junior) Giulia Quadrifoglio, Salvo and La Bella Bestia Nera, Luca with his unique Montecarlo Blue MT6, Lui and the Grigio Vesuvio beauty with 20 inch Stelvio rims, Juliano in his new back-to-origins-red Alfa Rosso QV, Carlo the racing pilot with his Alfa Rosso Giulia, Gionny and his Vulcano Nero roaring beast, then Tonio and his thrilling Stelvio Quadrifoglio and last but not least, myself with my little bold Rosso Competizione Giulia Veloce Ti.
I can’t wait for 2021! And I’m also counting on you guys, following our future raids over the Alps again with full excitement like the years before. Thanks for always supporting us and reading my story!
