Small but mighty: my Ape Carlotta!
My Ape Carlotta!
Anyone who has ever ridden an Ape or even owns one of these rolling pizza speedsters knows that an Ape is something very special and not just a vehicle. Because every Ape has its very own style and personality. Just like my Nina in Chianti Ape, which I use to explore the area around Panzano in Chianti. By the way: my Ape is a real diva and I have christened her Carlotta.
My artistic cult vehicle
My husband gave me the Ape a few years ago - painted with the famous Chianti Classico stick figures by the Panzanese artist Luca Carfagna. Just recently, Luca also immortalized the "baptismal name" Carlotta on the back. If you are out and about in and around Panzano with your eyes open, you will not only spot the red and black stick figures carrying and pressing grapes and drinking wine on my Ape, but also on road signs, on the walls of bars and restaurants - and on all kinds of vehicles...
Ape Carlotta
My artistic cult vehicle
One of the last adventures: Ape driving on Italian roads!
But anyone who thinks that my Ape is always nice to me just because it has a nice-sounding name and is nicely painted is very much mistaken! Sometimes she's as stubborn as a stubborn donkey: for example, when reverse gear won't engage again. You can work up quite a sweat in the non-air-conditioned "cockpit".
Thank goodness my friend Guido from Fattoria Le Fonti recently fitted a small fan to my dashboard to cool me down a little. And I need a cool head when I'm bumping along the streets of Panzano in my Carlotta, which are not necessarily in top condition everywhere.
After all, in an Ape, which only has one front wheel, you have to perform a real balancing act at every pothole and every bump - and sometimes even perform real long jumps.
One of the last adventures
Ape driving on Italian roads and dirt tracks
From the two-wheeled Vespa sister to the three-wheeled Ape 50
In 1947, the three-wheeled transporter series came onto the market one year after its "sister", the Vespa. While the original Ape was still a Vespa with a loading area, with the engine located under the seat, the Ape 50 was introduced in 1969. This moped with the typical three wheels is still built today just as it was back then. Its unmistakable design, maneuverability and economical maintenance and consumption made it the ideal cargo transporter for the narrow Italian streets of the 1960s and 1970s.
Today, the three-wheeled cult vehicle is experiencing a revival - as an ice cream van, a mobile bar or a compact event stand. And Carlotta has also been pimped, screwed and tinkered with a great deal.
Should anyone ever see me with Carlotta "on tour in Panzano": Take a photo and send it to me at nina@ninainchianti.com! I'll give you a little surprise for every Carlotta photo!
Nina on the road in Chianti
From the two-wheeled Vespa sister to the three-wheeled Ape 50