You Need To Visit The Italian Police Car Museum
Photography by Federico Bajetti
Travelling to Roma, I Googled to know what worth visiting there besides famous monuments, focusing on cars as you may guess.
Most of the playground for car lovers in Italy is situated in Northern part. But I found some links on the internet about an odd museum in Roma: Museo Delle Auto Della Polizia Di Stato.
Here, Italians have gathered a century of cars that were once on duty for state police. Covered with straw and cobwebs, the oldest car in the museum is a never-been-restored FIAT, belonging to Questura di Firenze. The car was found in this ruined situation and the museum decided to keep it as it is.
There are many cars you rarely see, including an armored (!) DeTomaso Deauville, Fiat 618CM, and a Lancia Artena Series III on temporary display. Rows are divided by decades, and it’s a cohesive yet eclectic assortment, with World War II Jeeps mingling with Alfa Romeo Mattas, and hopped-up Lancia Flaminias near Alfettas.
Cyclists would also have lots to see here: police bikes, side bikes and even a 3×3 mountain motorcycle, Produced in 1962 by Motoguzzi; it was called mulo mecchanico (Mechanical mule).
The most important car of the whole museum, is the factory-produced 1962 Ferrari 250 GTE 2+2, which was driven until 1973 by a policeman named Maresciallo Armando Spatafora. He is not well known because of being the driver of the first Ferrari police car, but instead for refusing Enzo’s invitation to join the Ferrari team. He simply preferred being a policeman. There’s also a famous story that the car once chased the mafia down the long, famous steps of Piazza di Spagna in Rome…
Just imagine the stories we don’t know about this car.
