42 DEPARTURES TRAVEL ON
42 DEPARTURES TRAVEL ON THE ROAD Italian Exuberance Alfa Romeo’s first 4x4, the enigmatic Stelvio, is put through its paces in the Tuscan countryside. by Farhad Heydari The rustic bar at Castello di Casole MOTORING, IN ITS TRUEST FORM, conjures up a cacophony of pleasurable sensations for petrolheads – from exhilaration to exultation and everything in between. Some diehards even believe that certain marques are imbued with an emotive quality that verges on the soulful. Alfa Romeo is one of them: a brand that you simply must own if you consider yourself a proper motoring enthusiast. And so what about its first 4x4, the Stelvio, named after the rarefied serpentine South Tyrolean mountain pass, high up in the Dolomites? Might connoisseurs look upon it with suspicion, raising their eyebrows at yet another manufacturer that has caught the SUV bug? Truth be told, Alfa has indeed caught the bug – upsizing its Giulia saloon by 190 millimetres. And for devotees who appreciate high The light-filled courtyard at Castello di Casole performance and high functionality, it’s not a moment too soon. This is much more than a city runabout, even though it features the iconic triangular grille, which has been used in every model since the Villa d’Este. It is a thoroughbred designed to tackle more than a gravel driveway. Which is why I am here in the Val d’Orcia or, as it was described by Unesco back in 2004 when it was inscribed as a World Heritage site, “part of the agricultural hinterland of Siena”. Here, on the zigzagging and untarmacked Strada Provinciale 103, or SP103, which is watered down by municipal authorities during the dry season, the Alfa comes into its own – the sporty cockpit, with a chunky steering wheel, providing light and ample responsiveness while the wheels deliver loads of grip, especially TYSON SADLO (2)
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ALFONS TAEKEMA/UNSPLASH, MATTEO CARASSALE (2), SIMON PALFRADER The roads in this rural part of Tuscany – winding B-roads, two-lane carriageways and hilltop switchbacks – are the perfect foil for the Stelvio as it darts into corners, where it is engineered to be exciting – and to our first destination, the hamlet of Castiglion del Bosco, a sprawling 13thcentury country estate, golf club and resort spread over 2,000 hectares. The roads in this rural part of Tuscany – a combination of two-lane carriageways that are more akin to slot-car racing than cruise-controlled motorway driving, winding singlelane B-roads and, finally, hilltop switchbacks – are the perfect foil for the Stelvio. Constructed from a combination of steel, aluminium and carbon fibre, it is the lightest SUV in its mid-size class. And the most agile and electrifying. In normal mode (or as Alfa calls it, “Natural” mode), it glides along without any drama; but engage Dynamic mode, as I did en route to the hilltop castle at the heart of the 1,700ha Castello di Casole estate, the former home of renowned filmmaker Luchino Visconti, and it snarls with a vigour that’s hard to ignore. What’s even more impressive is its braking system, which produces enviable results regardless of whether one is on the redline in the hinterlands or in eco mode on a school run. If there is anywhere that can distract from a showpiece motor vehicle, it is the immemorial Tuscan countryside, which has morphed from lush and green to russet and dusty with parallel furrows of ploughed fields as far as the eye can see as we crisscross its many roads, including the SP14, a superlative stretch with ample straights but plenty of corners to keep one engaged and enthralled. The Stelvio in motion FAST FACTS Alfa Romeo’s first production SUV ENGINE: 2.0 Turbo Petrol TRANSMISSION: 4x4 wheel drive, Automatic with manual mode, 8-speed POWER: 280 PS TORQUE: 400 Nm Clockwise from far left: the rolling green hills of Val d’Orcia; the idyllic Castiglion del Bosco; a terrace with a view at Castiglion del Bosco And though the driving is spectacular, my eyes are innately drawn to the many distant distractions far from the road: the winding allee of cypresses that chase the mountainsides here, or the many vineyards that striate the region’s conical hillsides there. Very much in its natural habitat, where epiphanies are engendered en masse, the Stelvio feels at home, a true exemplar of the boisterous and bold Alfa soul. alfaromeo.com ACCELERATION: 0-100 kmh 5.7 s TOP SPEED: 230 kmh DEPARTURES 43
