AONE Turns Out in Great Numbers for the 2025 Berkshires Sortie

By Peter Walker

Photos by Adrien Sipos, Jay Woodruff, John Rowntree, Frank LaSala, and Larry LoPresti

The first running of AONE’s Berkshires Sortie (then called the Indian Summer Sortie) occurred the first weekend of November 2003. The 2025 Sortie took place on October 18 and was our 23rd running of this event.

Part of the fun of this event is seeing who participates and in what cars. For the first Sortie, there were nine cars, two of which were not even Alfas—though one of those “lesser cars” was a Ferrari 330 GTC (and the other was a Fiat 124 Spider, no slouch either). All of the Alfas at that first Sortie were Spiders, though one of them was Frank LaSala’s 1960 Giulietta Spider. Frank has returned for many Sorties since 2003, but for 2025 he brought back his Giulietta Spider, and it was wonderfully complemented by John Della Torre’s own 1960 Giulietta Spider.

In fact, for 2025, participants brought cars from every decade that Alfa Romeos were officially marketed in the United States, except for the 1950s (although maybe one of both of those 1960 model-year Giuliettas was actually constructed in 1959?). Nancy and Steve Perry’s lovely white 1969 Euro-model GTV 1750 represented the other end of the 1960s. Gary Levesque’s 1971 Junior Z was the star of our 1970s offerings, accompanied by Mark Patterson’s Berlina of the same year, Greg Stidsen’s 1973 GTV, and three Spiders from later in the decade: 1977 models belonging to Peter Walker & Meg Anderson and Larry LoPresti & Michelle Dextraze, and the 1979 Spider of George Pond. Giorgio Kradjian and Rob Rizzo brought some 1980s V-6 transaxle power: Giorgio’s 1985 GTV6 and Rob’s 1987 Milano. Deb and Dan Donovan’s 1988 Spider rounded out the decade.

For the 1990s we had two 164s: John and Roberta Rowntree’s 1992 164L (riding with them was John’s brother, Stephen) and Ken Kubic’s 1991 164S. John Devereux brought his new-to-him 1990 Spider for its first shake-down run since Ingegnere Jeff Greenfield had finished bringing the car up to snuff.

The two thousand teens were represented by club members new to the Sortie: Pauline De Simone in a 2018 Stelvio Quadrifoglio and Stefan Vorndran and daughter Kristina in a 2017 4C. The current decade brought out another Stelvio Quadrifoglio, a 2024 100th Anniversary Edition belonging to Bruce Ehrmann (of the New York and Hudson River Valley chapters) and Jay and Suzanne Woodruff’s new 2025 Giulia.

Robert Rook and Adrien Sipos also brought a new car, but not an Alfa; they had only recently become owners of a 2025 Corvette and were taking it out on its second weekend get-away. And since we had a Ferrari on the 2003 Sortie, Jeff Greenfield brought his, a 1985 308 GTS.

October 18th was a partly sunny day with temperatures midday hovering just above 60 degrees. However, the early-morning temperatures were near freezing, and a number of the open cars arrived at the morning gathering point in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, with their tops up. But upon arrival convertible tops were stowed, and Robert and Jeff went to immediate work removing their roof panels (better thought of as a two-person job with the Corvette).

As in the past, the starting time was 11AM, which meant a drivers’ meeting at 10:45, during which some of the last cars continued to trickle in (one arriving at 11, just in time to join the lineup as we set off).

This year’s tour began as the previous year with the crossing of the Deerfield River and a run south on back roads to Conway, Massachusetts. A section of this road had just finished being repaved, so we took it easy through the still loose gravel and tarry smell. At the center of Conway we turned right onto Mass. Route 116 and enjoyed its challenging curves all the way to South Ashfield. After skirting the center of the village of Ashfield we headed north on more back roads into the hills of Plainfield and Hawley, until we reached Charlemont, crossed the Deerfield River at Route 2 and turned from Route 2 onto the Zoar Road, which runs along the same river north to Readsboro, Vermont.

We used the Zoar Picnic Area and its rather (ahem) rudimentary facilities as a chance to stretch our legs (literally, not the cars’) and to dispense with any remaining coffee or other breakfast libations. At first, only 16 cars (out of 21) showed up at the Picnic Area. Of course we appreciated that it is wonderful to have a great turnout at any AONE event, but even on roads that are almost entirely traffic-free, it was proving next to impossible to keep such a large group together. Apparently as the lead cars were already leaving Shelburne Falls at 11AM, other drivers were still walking toward their cars and never had a chance to catch up with the entire group. One of the missing cars, it turned out, had been obliged (for time reasons) to head for home before the tour was half over, but the other four cars did end up finding the Picnic Area.

From the Zoar Picnic Area we continued north into Vermont, to Readsboro, then east on VT Route 100 to Jacksonville, where we turned south on Route 112, back into Massachusetts, past Colrain and Buckland, to Ashfield, where the Lake House awaited us for lunch. This is the same restaurant where we ended the Sortie in 2024, but unlike last year, there was enough room on the terrace for everyone to sit outside, in the sun, overlooking Ashfield Lake. We used four or five tables and enjoyed conversation, a well-earned meal, and a bucolic setting.

21 cars and 31 participants is the largest participation we have ever had for the Sortie. The forecast had all week been promising excellent weather, which must have encouraged folks to turn out. The majority of the participants were from Massachusetts, but they came from all corners of the state, including Cape Cod, North Andover, the Connecticut River Valley, and Berkshire County. At least four participants came from Connecticut or New York (though one was staying the weekend in southern Vermont).

The philosophy of the Sortie has always been to allow participants to enjoy their Alfas in their ideal environment: traffic-free, scenic but challenging two-lane roads. That we’ve been able to run the event 23 times, and that so many AROC members take part suggests that they appreciate this philosophy. We also try to vary the route every year, though it is becoming harder to find roads we’ve never used before (restaurants too!). For 2025 there was not, unfortunately, a single stretch of road that had not been used before, although the Zoar Road and VT Route 100 had not been on the route in many years.

Next year we hope to see everyone back, and we’ll try our best to assemble as interesting and fun a route as before. If we have as large a turn-out again, we may have to adopt some new methods for keeping everyone on the route (perhaps by providing in the directions some specific locations that drivers can program into their GPS devices). In any case, before the snow and salt come, and whether or not you took part in the Sortie, get those Alfas out on some nice roads. It’s what they’re meant for.

Participants

Frank LaSala, 1960 Giulietta Spider
John Della Torre and Patsy Klotz, 1960 Giulietta Spider
Nancy and Steve Perry, 1969 GTV 1750
Gary Levesque, 1971 Junior Z
Mark Patterson, 1971 Berlina
Greg Stidsen, 1973 GTV 2000
Peter Walker and Meg Anderson, 1977 Spider
Larry LoPresti and Michelle Dextraze, 1977 Spider
George Pond, 1979 Spider
Giorgio Kradjian, 1985 GTV6
Rob Rizzo, 1987 Milano
Dan and Deb Donovan, 1988 Spider
John Devereux, 1990 Spider
Ken Kubic, 1991 164S
John, Roberta, and Stephen Rowntree, 1992 164L
Stefan and Kristina Vorndran, 2017 4C
Pauline DeSimone, 2018 Stelvio Quad
Bruce Ehrmann, 2024 Stelvio QV 100th Anniversary Edition
Jay and Suzanne Woodruff, 2025 Giulia

“Lesser Cars”

Jeff Greenfield, 1985 Ferrari 308 GTS
Robert Rook and Adrien Sipos, 2025 Corvette