Ape car

If you ever travelled to Italy you will know Ape car… maybe you will not know its name, but you’ll have seen hundreds of them “darting” around Italian roads (very common in rural Central Italy), usually with an elderly man at the wheel (well… rather at the handlebar), and probably driving you nuts because they rarely exceed 30 km per hour (approx 18 miles per hour) and tend to stay right in the middle of the road. Ape Car are those three weels little mix between a car and a motorbike with little space for people and a big open boot.
They are used as tiny vans carrying things around the countryside and villages.

If you drive around Le Marche you will not only see the “normal” ones sometimes carrying cages with truffle or hunting dogs inside or with husband and wife squeezed in the tiny passenger compartment, but you’ll also see modern, cool ones driven by teenagers. In Italy you can pass your driving test and thus drive a car when you’re 18, but many kids living in the countryside get a “motorino” when they are 14… if you’re lucky you get an Ape instead, but of course you would not want it to be old and dull looking!

This photo was taken on a Saturday night in Urbino and the building that you see is the very same Ducal Palace! Old and new always blend in funny ways in this country!