Il Giro Del Monadnock

Event Report

"Soon that drivin’ itch needed scratchin’,
so it was time to head back out on the road"

By Dave Pratt — Photos by Gene Durso, Joe Fenstermaker, & Dave

the Fifth Anniversary Edition of the AONE Il Giro Del Monadnock fall tour was another smashing success! With 19 cars and 30 people in attendance, it was one of our club’s best-attended driving events of the year. As she has done for every single one of our Il Giro events, Barbara Bonatto made arrangements with her Friend for perfect touring weather — it was a bright, sunny, crisp, cool fall day.

Things started off in Concord, MA, where the first ten cars or so assembled in the parking lot of Papa Razzi Ristorante on Saturday, October 4th. Guilherme Bonatto came down from NH to meet the southern contingent there. After some tire kicking and a brief driver’s meeting where maps and directions were given out, we hit the road, let by Guilherme in his white Euro-spec GTV. After perhaps a half hour, we made a Dunkin Donuts pit stop, where we were able to take on (and offload) fluids. We also picked up a couple of more Alfas there to bolster our ranks.

As we got further from civilization, the roads cleared out noticeably and we found some nice spots to exercise the rightmost floor pedal a little. We also noticed, as we got a little farther north and higher in altitude, that the famed New England fall foliage was starting to kick into gear. It appears that the colors are going to be particularly brilliant this year! (Make that past tense by the time you read this.)

After a journey of more than 50 miles over scenic, winding, secondary roads, we arrived at the morning’s destination: the renowned Kimball Farm restaurant and ice cream stand in Jaffrey, NH. Here, we were met by a couple of more Alfas, and while we were there even more rolled in to bring us up to our total. Our Il Giro organizers had arranged with the Kimball Farm management for a special Alfa-only parking area (with appropriate signage) along the front of the restaurant, where other patrons and passing motorists could view our sporting Italian conveyances.

Another driver’s meeting was convened, at which Guilherme went over the plans for the afternoon segment. He also gave commemorative reproductions of the original hand-drawn map that had been prepared by co-organizer John Percival for Il Giro #1 back in 2004 to all of the participants. In addition, John was presented with a framed version of the original map in appreciation of his efforts in planning Il Giro over the years.

This event also marked the debut of the new official AONE pint glasses. This addition to our Club Store was so well-received that an entire case of 24 was bought up in the Papa Razzi and Kimball Farm parking lots. (Get yours at the upcoming Indian Summer Sortie tour or order yours online!)

There was even a reporter from the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript taking photos and interviewing a few of us. Alas, she wrote "Alpha Romero" on her notepad several times, and captioned the photo of Dave and his Giulietta as Phil and his GTV, but hey — there’s no such thing as bad publicity! (It doesn’t look like there’s a future for her at Motor Trend, though.)

By then, everyone was getting hungry, so we headed toward the restaurant to sample Kimball Farm’s fine salads, sandwiches, soups, and (of course) their famous ice cream. Somehow, word got out that it was the Editor’s birthday, and upon his return from a trip to the loo he was greeted by a rousing vocal chorus and presented with a birthday sundae. [Thanks, gang. —Ed.]

But soon that drivin’ itch needed scratchin’, so it was time to head back out on the road. Alas, Guilherme’s battery was flat, so, since he was leading the way, he was given a jump, and then we were off. The afternoon’s route was even more scenic than the morning’s, and took us west, around the serene Dudley Pond, and then via some real country back roads through the quiet New Hampshire towns of Marlborough, Hancock, Harrisville, and Chesham, before circling back toward Peterborough — all in all, another pleasant passage of 50-plus miles. And the attractive downtown area of Peterborough is where our day ended, with a visit to Ava Marie’s for ice cream, which has become an Il Giro tradition.

The group comprising Il Giro Del Monadnock V included Barbara & Guilherme Bonatto, John & Peggy Percival, Keith & Heather Dalrymple (John’s daughter), Dave Castelhano, George & Paula Dolak, Kevin & Diane Murphy and their son Ryan, Gene & Judy Durso, Joe Fenstermaker, Tom Ducibella, Peter Walker, Phil Bostwick, Jim Murphy and his daughter Olivia, Rod Burdick, Giorgio Kradjian, Lou & Donna D’Amore, Tom Freiberger, Ken Greene & Millie Archer, Glenn Michael, and Dave & Vi Pratt.

Our thanks go out to the Bonattos and Percivals for delivering another super-fine Il Giro Del Monadnock!