Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider

La Dolce Vita!

I moved to Rome in the early sixties. Rome was definitely an eye opener for a pre-teen. Moving from a small, very rural Canadian community with large family cars to a very large chaotic city with a whole range of new-to-me exotic vehicles ranging from fairly large to small to you’ve-got-to-be-kidding. The fact is, initially at a young age, I didn’t think much of cars until that move to Italy.  I think part of the reason was that the larger North American cars were something parents drove. Now I was seeing cars that, in my mind, could actually be my size. The Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider is one of those cars.

By even Alfa Romeo standards at the time, the Spider car was small. The body-by-Pininfarina 1.3 litre Giulietta Spider was launched in 1955, and was Alfa’s first post war vehicle. By the time I arrived on the Roman scene in 1962, the Giulia Spider was launched, which had  a very slight visible variation of the Giulietta. The difference in this new iteration was the hood bulge required to clear the slightly taller 1.6 litre engine.

None of this really meant anything to me as a kid. I loved the lines, the colour; I especially loved the sound. Most of what I observed was a caressing of my senses. This is what remains with me today. As an artist, painting the Spider is the equivalent to painting a live model in art school: all the senses become engaged. Of course, I tend to paint Italian cars in red; that’s what I remember of my childhood. Really, with these type of memories, it was a Dolce Vita!

Prints of this painting are available at Fineartamerica.com