Alfa Romeo Swiss Grand Tour: The Excellence Of Design And Nature, From Zurich To Schaffhausen

From a city blending international lifestyles and Swiss traditions, passing through vineyards and wheat fields to the strength and power of unbridled nature

Words Alessandro Giudice

Photography Alessandro Barteletti

Video Andrea Ruggeri

Swiss Grand Tour is a project to discover itineraries driving classic Alfa Romeo cars, in partnership with Astara, the distributor and importer of the Brand in Switzerland.

Canton	Zurich, Schaffhausen
Route	from Zurich to Schaffhausen
Distance	95 km
Travel time	2h 10min
Driving pleasure	3/5
Panorama	4/5

Fresh out of college, Benjamin Braddock was getting ready for a relaxing and somewhat peacefully boring Californian summer. He was yet to find out how that magical season would turn into a transgressive, rebellious adventure, with a grand finale of emancipation. Played by the newcomer Dustin Hoffman, Benjamin was the leading character in “The Graduate”, the 1967 film that, with only apparently trivial topics, underlined the desire for freedom and young people’s deliverance from conventions that would explode the following year across the globe. Accompanying Benjamin/Hoffman in the key moments of the plot was a red Alfa Romeo Spider, the Pininfarina masterpiece that, following a public competition. was christened the Duetto, although the name was never made official as it belonged to a snack; it was however the only one ever used by Alfa fans.

[click to watch the video]

(Map by Sansai Zappini)

Like Marcel Untersander, who fell in love with the car the first time he saw her on the big screen, promising to himself that one day he would own one. And indeed a few years later Marcel found his Spider 1750 Veloce “cuttlefish” (the nickname given to the later K-tail model), and made it his favourite summer car, used every day, strictly with the top down, even in Canton of Zurich where the climate is not always Mediterranean. And this is where we met him, our guide for an itinerary that blends the charm of Switzerland's largest city with the force of the river Rhine, which along the German border offers a sparkling natural spectacle: we accompanied the spider for a hundred or so kilometres between Zurich and Schaffhausen, in our support car, a Junior BEV Speciale, which offers all the silence of an electric vehicle without compromising on the Alfa Romeo spirit.

And so we left the charmingly cosmopolitan city of Zurich, with its air of an international capital crowned by the lake, the historical villas nestling along the banks and the sailing boats waiting at anchor to sail on its peaceful waters. Yet it is also a city dotted with pointed bell towers and buildings, a mix of classic and avant-garde architectures, much appreciated and admired in this Swiss capital. One of the busiest streets in the city runs over the Quaibrücke, overlooking the lake and the river Limmat, which just a stone’s throw away on the opposite bank hosts two of the city’s most popular landmarks, the Grossmünster, the cathedral with its two Romanesque-style towers, and the Fraumünster, the Evangelist church built on the remains of a former abbey for aristocratic women that houses five stained glass windows designed by the artist Marc Chagall. In the company of Picasso, Munch, Giacometti, Monet and many others, the artist's works are also on display in the Kunsthaus, Switzerland’s largest art museum designed by David Chipperfield. Moving to the east bank of the lake, you will come across the baroque-style Zurich Opera House and the Pavillon Le Corbusier, the great architect’s last project, with multi-coloured blocks inserted within a steel and glass structure. A masterpiece that design lovers should not miss.

Climbing up Monte Diggelmann, we enjoyed a unique panoramic view of Zurich and beyond before leaving the city towards the north-east along Road 1 (Zücherstrasse, which then becomes Winterthurerstrasse) running almost parallel to the motorway and heading towards Winterthur, the second leg of our itinerary. This fairly normal main road passes through some characteristic, traditional towns, offering us the chance to admire the Duetto’s lines and personality as she moves swiftly and easily through the local traffic, standing out not only for her red colour but also her light, elegant style. When we reached Winterthur - “Winti” to the locals - we left the car in one of the many car parks surrounding a record-breaking pedestrian area (the largest in Switzerland and indeed, according to some, the largest in Europe) for a stroll. Along Marktgasse, with the town hall, and the multi-coloured buildings running along Steinberggasse, and on to the Stadtkirche, the church devoted to St. Laurenz with its two twin bell towers with red roofs crowning the façade.

The town has several museums devoted to photography, art and science. The last two are near Stadthausstrasse: the Kunstmuseum and especially the Museum Oskar Reinhart, housing a major collection left to the town. With two different sites, the one in Stadtgarten is less spectacular than the other in Römerholz, housed in the benefactor’s charming home around twenty minutes away on foot.

Leaving Winterthur, we headed north-west along Wülflingerstrasse, into the countryside towards Neftenbach and on to the picturesque villages of Buch am Irchel, Gräslikon and Flaach, where we turned onto the main road towards Andelfingen. The crops along the way tell of Zurich’s wine-growing vocation, as well as its rich wheat growing sector, the point of reference of which is Andelfingen, another place to stop. Here, the town is famed for the castle that dominates from above and the typical timber-framed houses, as well as the ancient covered bridge and adjacent mill on the river Thur.

From here we headed towards Ossingen and then Stammheim, from where we reached the penultimate stop of our itinerary, the beautiful Stein am Rhein, in the Canton of Schaffhausen. Here, the local police kindly allowed us to drive the charming Spider Alfa Romeo into the spectacular main square leading into the town’s main pedestrian street, Oberstadt, for a few minutes, for a thrilling photo shoot set against the unique architecture of the town hall, surrounded by the finely frescoed façades of the houses.

Leaving Stein am Rhein, we drove less than twenty kilometres to Schaffhausen, capital of the canton of the same name running along the Rhine. Right near the town, the river drops 23 metres, not the tallest of falls but certainly the widest in Europe, measuring 150 metres across. The falls are one of Switzerland's most popular tourist destinations. To visit them, it is worth leaving the car in the large car park at the medieval castle of Laufen, where you get a great view of the river from a panoramic terrace. Or you can take the spectacular glass lift leading from the castle directly to the banks of the Rhine, hit by the noisy, foaming waters: a great way to enjoy a different sound to the joyful roar of the four-cylinder Alfa Romeo. 

---

THE COLLECTOR: Marcel Untersander

I have had a passion for cars since I was five: at night I could recognise a model just by looking at the headlights. The first time I saw the Duetto was in the film “The Graduate” and I thought, “sooner or later I’m going to own one of those.” When I grew up, I worked as a mechanic, and I knew how to repair cars, but my father told me that the problem with that kind of car was the bodywork, so I couldn’t buy one. But I never forgot her: those lines and round headlights have always been in the back of my mind. Then, seven years ago, I found one in Canada and had it shipped to Switzerland, where in the meantime I had begun to renovate cars. The bodywork of the 1750 Spider was in really bad shape, and I enjoyed giving her a second chance, and in the end the car drives like she had just come off the production line. This has always been my dream and my passion.

Alfa Romeos have always been famous for their engines, not to mention the quality of the materials, which don’t rust and that makes a huge difference to other cars. They are great to drive, especially along the bends of the mountain roads. The suspensions are really ahead of their time, the chassis smooth and the engines fun. They have always been light, but with enough power to enjoy the drive. For me, that is pure joy.