Amalfi Coast, Italy

On paper, a few days driving a supercar along the Amalfi Coast sounds like a dream job but sometimes things just don't quite work out the way you imagine. The legendary SS163 coast road from Sorrento to Salerno is meant to be one of the great driving roads of Europe but on a busy weekend in Spring, by mid morning it's a 50Km stop start traffic jam. The road is a narrow twisty two lane ribbon between the rock face on one side and a low wall on the other and we're in a 500bhp V6 Alfa Giulia Quadrifoglio that's at least half the width of the road and has a manual gearbox that barely makes it out of second. Fortunately writer and ex rally driver Michael Taylor is doing the driving but stopping to take pictures is difficult and turning round virtually impossible so for a car shoot it's about as bad as it gets, and yet, the magazine has asked for seductive pictures of Italy and we must deliver so we get on with what we know how to do, but frankly we both feel guilty about perpetuating a myth so if, having seen the piece in this week's Auto Week Supplement, you're tempted to head to Positano for a nice drive in your new Alfa, ask me for a few better suggestions first.