Vroom with A View: In Search of Italy's Dolce Vita on a '61 Vespa - Softcover

Moore, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0593052781 ISBN 13: 9780593052785

Publisher: Bantam Press, 2004

Synopsis

He was an Australian author approaching 40. She was a fading Italian beauty from the sixties. They spent one unforgettable summer together, a magical road trip from Milan to Rome. Only one thing stood in the way of perfect love. Sophia was a motor scooter. After a late night Tai Bo fitness commercial warns him that his life will be over after 40, Peter Moore decides to pursue a boyhood dream sparked by watching old black and white movies of Sophia Loren - to tour Italy on a Vespa, in pursuit of la dolce vita. From picnicking in the Italian alps to exploring tumbledown seaside villages, gate-crashing Frances Mayes's villa and re-enacting Roman Holiday, this is as much a romance as a travel adventure. Not only does Peter sweep the woman of his dreams off her feet, he falls in love with a side of Italy others rarely see, along with Sophia of course...

About this title

About the Author

Peter Moore is a freelance advertising copywriter and website producer who works only to support his insatiable travel habit. He has written for various Australian and British publications, including The Times and Sydney Herald, and it the author of three acclaimed travel books, The Wrong Way Home, The Full Montezuma and Swahili for the Broken-Hearted as well as the classic alternative travel guide, No Shitting in the Toilet. When he's not on the road living out of his trusty backpack, he lives in Sydney with his collection of souvenir plastic snowdomes.

From the Back Cover

He was an intrepid Australian author fast approaching forty. She was a fading Italian beauty from the sixties. They first met on the Internet and together would spend one unforgettable summer travelling from Milan to Rome. Only one thing stood in the way of perfect love . . .

Sophia was a motor scooter.

After a late night Tai Bo fitness commercial warns him that after forty his life will be over, Peter Moore decides to pursue a boyhood dream sparked by watching old black and white movies of Sophia Loren - to putter around Italy on a 1960s Vespa in pursuit of la dolce vita.

But it couldn't be any old Vespa. With the big day just around the corner, Peter wanted a bike as old as he was and in the same sort of condition - a little rough round the edges, a bit slow in the mornings perhaps, but basically still OK. And it had to have saddle seats. And temperamental electrics. And a little too much chrome. The sort of scooter you'd imagine a sharp-suited, Ray Ban-wearing young Marcello Mastroianni riding.

From picnicking in the Italian alps and rattling through cobbled hilltop towns to exploring tumbledown seaside villages, gate-crashing Frances Mayes's villa and re-enacting Roman Holiday, Vroom with a View is as much a romance as a travel adventure. Not only does Peter sweep the woman of his dreams off her feet, he falls for a side of Italy others rarely see, along with Sophia, of course ...

'Moore has a parched dry wit, the solid brass cojones of a true traveller and a rare eye for the madness of the wider world.' JOHN BIRMINGHAM

'Peter Moore is the genuine article, a traveller's traveller.' FHM

Edition details

• Publisher: Bantam Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0593052781
• ISBN 13: 9780593052785
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304