I have been assured that, unlike many other Italians born in the 1970s, I was not conceived in a Fiat 500.

Yet, this week’s news that as early as next year Chrysler, now controlled by Fiat, will sell the “Cinquecento” in the US brought back memories of Italy’s best loved car: childhood journeys spent squeezed in the back seat, evenings of carousing with the roof down, and, yes, tall tales of uncomfortable trysts within its cramped confines.