We were staying at one of several modern coastal towns built along a thirty kilometre stretch of the northern Adriatic coast forming major holiday destinations for city dwelling Italians. The area had stunning sandy beaches and a long promenade lined with palm trees, with cafés and restaurants and a wide cycle track running alongside the beach. One sunny afternoon we cycled north following the path for 13 kilometres and still hadn’t reached the end of the cycle way. We had to buy an ice cream (fresh Italian ice cream – delicious) before we felt strong enough to cycle back again.
Our camp site was in Salinello, a twenty minute cycle ride from the nearby town of Alba Adriatica. Our friends, Jacqui and Sergio had recently purchased a ground floor holiday flat in Alba Adriatica, which was about two hours’ drive from their home in Tivoli.
There was a busy railway track that ran along the coast from Venice to Brindisi with a spur running into the Fiat SEVEL plant where vans, pickups and chassis were manufactured and shipped by train to northern Europe. This railway ran right by the seaside resorts and past the campsite perimeter and was noisy day and night. The tourist industry must have considered it a blight on such a beautiful area. We realised that our camper van chassis must have been shipped north on this route.
