Alfa also is Italian

["Jorge Mazlumian" <jmazl@domain.elided>]

Scott Fisher wisely proposed:
"(Now, THAT is how Alfa could come back to the U.S. -- get the Olive
Garden to sponsor a NASCAR 166, with Michael Andretti driving!  Ah,
well...)"

That statement carries more to it than it's apparent.  And got me thinking
too.  (I don't do that very often).  Over the last several years there has
been in the US an incredible surge of awareness, tendency, interest and
trend to like and enjoy all things Italian (well, cars excluded).   I
believe that the most obvious is in the gastronomic sector.  A very high
percentage of new restaurants are Italian,  and what used to be patrimony of
the French culinary art, nowadays the high class restaurants are mostly
Italian or have Italian flavor.   And there is quite a number of "mid end"
restaurant chains that cater to middle class with excellent Italian food: Il
Fornaio, Trilussa, Trattoria Louise, Olive Garden, to name just a few.
Remember the ad about "Pasta Barilla"?  Fashion has such a tendency towards
Italian brands that just amazes me:  Armani, Versace, Prada, Fendi, and a
thousand others.   Even the major department stores invent an Italian name
for there own brands (i.e.: Macy's invented Alfani)  Now you can have a cup
of espresso in almost any corner, something that years ago was such a rarity
and had made 'american' coffee so (in)-famous until now.

Being that things Italian are so much in fashion lately, it's a real shame
that Alfa Romeo missed out on it.  I could envision a TV commercial with a
nice couple, dressed in very fashionable Italian silk and wool, having pasta
al dente in a patio with a bottle of Chianti, (without the fava beans),
ending with tiramisu and a cup of espresso, then climbing into there very
red new Spider or silver 156 on there way to the opera to see Aida...
Alfa should be the poor man's (or woman's) Ferrari.

Jorge
enjoys sipping espresso and driving an Alfa Romeo

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