Thompson SmithThis last Spring 2025, my wife Donna Renaud and I took a trip to Italy and San Marino and traveled around Tuscany. We sought to experience historic cities, drive the tight narrow hilly roads — and of course sample the region’s culinary delights. Traveling by train, I was pleasantly surprised to see many early Land Rover Defender L316s in their actual working settings ready for duty — parked out back of a barn, muddied up from proper agricultural support or just blending in next to the family farm.
We were traveling light, so I had only my iPhone 14 Pro that came with me on the trip. When you’re traveling by train in a country that embraces high-speed rail, zipping along smoothly at 300kph+ (186 mph!), the chance to photograph anything with the iPhone, even a stationary Defender up against an olive tree, was next to impossible. Honestly, there were more Defenders in this type of setting than anywhere else. While on the train at autobahn speeds, I succumbed to being amused by critter spotting, viewing a couple of bunnies having a row boxing each other in a vineyard: entertaining. I was bummed not being able to snap close-up, clear photos of working Defenders from the trains, but determined to get at least some photos of Land Rovers where we stayed along the way.
The trip involved flying from San Francisco into Milan for one night, then off to Rimini by train to the country of San Marino for a couple nights and then down through Tuscany. This decision of locations set the vibe off on a good note — food, accommodations and rallying — yes, a tarmac rallye in San Marino (24° Rally Bianco Azzurro 2025) that we missed by one day, drats (future planning will include tarmac rallies)! Thankfully, a smart TV in our next Siena stay saved my gear head brain and I was able to watch it on YouTube that night.
On our first day in Milan, I spotted this Defender 90 on a closed, pedestrian-only street (Via Dante) with many high-end shops and spied a second Defender stationed at the other end of the street. Two guards, each with automatic rifles, stood beside their Defenders. I walked up to them and said in English, “Defender. Turbo Diesel 300 Tdi. I work for a Land Rover parts specialist. Can I take a photograph?” They laughed and said, “Defender, of course, but not us.” We all smiled at the huge oil drip pan beneath the front end; they travel with those pans. The very cool guards all said their Defenders just keep going and going over everything — except the drip pans.
If you’re a scale-model enthusiast and happen to be in the Città di San Marino (up on top of the mountain), you will be blown away by a scale model store, Mularoni Marta Modellismo (where I found out about Rally Bianco Azzurro). We happened upon this while on our way to dinner. Make sure to buy something that fits in your suitcase or backpack — the selection they have on-hand is off the chart (sadly, they don’t have a website, but ‘might’ ship to North America). Do you fancy rally cars, no problem, the selection is extensive. Looking for an agricultural 1/32 Fendt tractor? They’ve got that. Or maybe something a little larger, like a 1/24 scale plastic Land Rover Series III 109 pickup model by Italieri? These are stocked too. Want to add to your 1/87th, 1/64th or 1/43 scale collection? They just happened to have a Defender 110, a 2015 911 GT3 RS in Riviera blue by Minichamps and a vintage new-old-stock 1/43 scale 1969 Porsche 908/2 #1 Nurburgring by Best Models Italy, all of which tucked nicely into my backpack! How they fit all these in a tiny store is mind boggling. (Memo to self — bring a bigger backpack). [For a full immersive look, enjoy the Google walk through 3D photos QR code p.19 or @mularonimartamodellismo on Instagram].
Weather for the first week was beautiful, cool and sunny, after that, rainy and cooler, then back to nice. In Siena, we rented a small Renault Captur SUV petrol 3-cylinder turbo, 6-speed manual transmission (very entertaining to drive in extreme downpours on super narrow steep roads!). We drove to fogged in, medieval walled cities nestled on the tops of mountains: Cortona, an Abbey perched up on the hillside (Abbazia Di Monte Oliveto Maggiore — with Monks producing wine since 1319), Montepulciano and Sensano, Volterra. The latter two were working Agriturismo vineyards — Villa Nottola in Montepulciano and Sant’Antonio in Sensano, Volterra. Then off to Lucca for a few nights, Pisa for the day, Florence for several nights and back to Milan and finally back home. A whirlwind adventure of food, sights and sensations in Italy.
We did a lot of walking and of course, this involved having to stop to eat the finest Italian food we could find along the way. Sampling the epicurious delights and taking photos of Land Rovers became a daily routine. We’re planning our next trip to Austria in two years and hoping to find Tyrolean mountain rescue Defenders. Here’s a photography montage of what we experienced in Italy.
[I recommend:
Rally Bianco Azzurro 2025 – www.scuderiasanmarino.com/24-rally-bianco-azzurro/
Hotel Caesar, San Marino – www.hotelcesare.com
The Abbey Monte Oliveto Maggiore – www.monteolivetomaggiore.it
Villa Nottola – www.villadinottola.com
Agriturismo Sant’Antonio – www.agriturismosantantonio.com/en/ -ed.]
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