It was the unlikely transport of the Latin lover: a symbol of exhilarating freedom and romance to a weary postwar generation of Italians. Now, half a century after the iconic Fiat 500 — the Cinquecento — was introduced, an updated version has been unveiled to an outpouring of nostalgia and national pride.

Like the Mini and the Volkswagen Beetle — which have also been given a new lease of life in modern versions — the Fiat 500 is not so much a car, more a myth, said one enthusiast.

The original was launched in 1957, the same year that the Common Market was created with Italy as one of the six founder members. Russia’s Sputnik was in orbit with a dog called Laika on board, Pius XII was still Pope and West Side Story was making its debut in New York.

For Italians preoccupied with economic woes, political instability and scandals, the 50th anniversary celebrations of Europe and the Cinquecento recall the optimism of the country’s postwar economic boom and the heady days of the dolce vita. A Fiat 500 featured in Fellini’s film that gave the era its name, and its appeal is so enduring that another, yellow talking Cinquecento played a part with attitude in last year’s hit cartoon Cars.

Renzo Arbore, a veteran Italian singer and entertainer, said: “For our generation the Cinquecento was the courting car of the Latin lover. It was a kind of mini bachelor pad on wheels.”

Like the Vespa, the Fiat 500, the brainchild of the designer Dante Giacosa, symbolised Italians’ newfound freedom and mobility, and featured frequently in classic films of the Fifties and Sixties. “Perhaps Fiat could issue a car blanket of the kind we used to take along for romantic purposes,” Arbore suggested.

He said the original was “compact, not to say small, but there always seemed to be plenty of room. It was not just a car, it was an object of passion”.

According to Silvia Depaoli, the head of the Fiat 500 Club at Garlenda in Liguria, which has 10,000 members and holds a rally every summer, the old Fiat 500 remains a symbol of “freedom of movement” for many Italians.

Mrs Depaoli — who owns six 500s — told The Timesthat she hoped the new version would “appeal to the young, just as the original did to us in the 1960s”. Nothing, however, could replace the classic Cinquecento, which “achieved an immortal place in our hearts . . . it was part of our youth, our loves and our life”.

Owners resent the fact that they can no longer drive their cars in city centres because of antipollution laws. Three years ago enthusiasts failed to amend a law banning cars without catalytic converters from urban centres by gaining an exemption for the Cinquecento.

They insisted that the Fiat 500s, with their tiny air-cooled engines, did not contribute to pollution, provided that they were kept in good condition. But environmental campaigners said antipollution measures were “more important than nostalgia”.

Four million of the originals were made in 18 years and about 1 million are thought to have survived.

The new version will be greener and faster than the original, which had a top speed of only 95km/h (just under 60 mph). It is wired up for sat-navs, iPods and Bluetooth, but retains the circular dials and white-leather steering wheel of the 1957 version.

Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive of Fiat, said that he hoped the new 500 would further boost the company’s recent revival of fortunes after a period of losses and strikes. A convertible version is to be launched in 2009.The new Cinquecento, which goes on the market in July, is a four-seater, three-door car. About 120,000 a year will be produced at Fiat’s plant at Tychy, in Poland, in an alliance with Ford, with a range of engines rather larger than the 480cc unit of the original.

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