TRAVEL STORY - CLASSIC CAR TRAVEL IN SOUTHERN ITALY

Ever wished yourself back to the Classic days of Sixties sportscar Continental travel? One travel operator has ensured that with a fleet of classic Triumph Spitfires in Southern Italy, you'll find it alive and well. Jonathan Crouch reports from Naples

If I could turn the clock back, one of my dreams would see me at the wheel of a classic British Vintage roadster flying through the switchback roads of Southern Italy some time in the sixties. A beautiful woman would be at my side, her hair flying in the breeze, and we'd be wining and dining on the best that Napoli's chefs had to offer, basing ourselves at a small but very comfortable mountaintop hotel. It's a dream I never imagined I'd actually experience. But I was wrong.



Last week in the mountains South of Naples, that's exactly what I was doing. The car in question was a perfectly restored Triumph Spitfire. The hotel was the Locanda Severina in the hilltop town of Caggiano. And the beautiful woman? Well of course that was my wife. The occasion was an opportunity to sample one of a very exclusive series of tours that European and American travellers have been enjoying for some time run by German operator Meridianosedici (www.meridianosedici.de) Using a growing fleet of classic British sportscars, the company has set out to recreate the spirit of exclusive Sixties travel. With four or seven day itineraries that use only the finest hotels and restaurants and ...