The Peugeot 205 Turbo 16

A Childhood Fueled by Car Magazines

Like many car enthusiasts, my love for automobiles began long before I could reach the pedals. As a child, I spent endless hours flipping through car magazines, memorizing specifications, and carefully cutting out my favorite photographs. Surely, I wasn’t the only one with this pastime.

I must have been six or seven when my fascination truly took hold, though my reading material was largely limited to what was available locally. Living in a village on the shores of Lake Como, I would eagerly visit the newsstand to pick up Italy’s top car magazines—devouring every page. But my collection had an occasional boost, thanks to my father.

Whenever he returned from a business trip, I was, of course, happy to see him—but there was an extra thrill in wondering what car magazine he’d brought back for me. Each issue, from foreign publications to glossy collector’s editions, felt like a window into a wider world of automotive excellence.

Those early years spent poring over pages of cars I could only dream of laid the foundation for a lifelong passion. And even now, the nostalgia of flipping through a well-worn magazine still brings back that same childhood excitement.