The Italian Job

Some charities hold galas. This one drives a convoy of Minis across northern Italy.

The Italian Job began in 1990 and has since raised over £3 million for children's projects and charities in the UK and around the world — Birmingham Children's Hospital, NSPCC, Childline and Variety at home; Ospedale Bambin Gesù and Regina Margherita in Italy; SOS Kinderdorf in Austria; Make a Wish and St. Andrew Children's Clinic further afield. It operates as a UK community interest company, which is to say it's run by people who love these cars and decided that love ought to be useful.

The event itself is a driving adventure, and an unusually well-connected one. Participants — Jobbers, in the parlance — parade their Minis around Imola, Monza and Mugello, roll through Turin in a VIP convoy escorted by local police, visit locations from the 1969 film, and are hosted by local food and wine producers along the way. Nights are spent in four- and five-star hotels. Every kilometer of it raises money for children.

What I find compelling is the shape of the thing. There's no separation here between the pleasure and the purpose — the fundraising is the trip, and the trip is genuinely one of the more joyful ways I know to see Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna. That's the whole premise of Going For Good.

Coming up

• Mile of Minis 2027 — Sunday, April 25, 2027

• The Italian Job 2027 — 2027 date TBD

If you'd like to enter, ride along, or lend time to the organization, write to me at travel@bellaadventures.com. I'll handle the entry details and build the rest of your Italy around it.