FERRARIS and Maseratis might be the cars that Italians aspire to, but the little Fiat 500 has a special place in most of their hearts.

The original 500 was the baby car Italians had a love affair with - and in many cases in - until it went out of production in 1975.

A country can't produce almost four million cars without generating some affection for the tiny four seaters which were ideal for big city traffic.

But that was the old 500. The new, modern interpretation of the classic appeared in showrooms just under two years ago - and now it has spawned a topless version.

The Fiat 500C is not a convertible in the normal sense of the word. It doesn't have a hood. What it does have is a roof which folds back completely - including the rear window - but leaving the sides of the car in place. So you get the best of all worlds.

And the nice thing about this roof is that you can go totally alfresco or just park it at any point to have as much or as little covering as you want. The whole process is electric and can be operated with the car travelling at speeds of up to 30mph. All you do is push and hold a button above your head. You can even open the roof from outside the car using the remote button on the key fob.

If you have ever sat in the back seat of a four-seater convertible you will know that it's by far the windiest place to be. The driver and front seat passenger are protected to some extent by the windscreen but in the back you get all the turbulence.

In the 500C, however, you can adjust the roof so all occupants are comfortable. There is even a tiny wind deflector on top of the windscreen and an optional rear wind deflector to fit behind the rear headrests is available and probably a good investment.

Fiat has built some nice touches into this little car. If the roof is down, for instance, and you want to get into the boot, the merest touch of the boot release is enough to automatically lift the hood a few inches to allow access.

The boot is larger than you might expect for a car of this size, with a capacity of 182 litres. And, true to the original car, the boot lid opens upwards.

I liked the stylish interior of the 500C with its body-coloured dashboard and single dial set immediately in front of the driver. This houses the speedometer with the rev counter set into an inner ring and other gauges set within that.

The gear-lever is mounted high on a console below the dashboard rather than on the floor making gear changes easy, slick and positive.

The car is available with 1.2 or 1.4-litre petrol engines or a 1.3-litre diesel. On the road I found my 1.2-litre surprisingly quiet and easy to live with. It's an ideal city car, although there were times - such as at very busy junctions - when I could have done with a bit more power.

On the motorway the 500C cruises along quiet happily at high speed - although with the 1.2 you have to build it up gradually - and is impressively stable.

At the other end of the spectrum slow manoeuvring and parking is easy, particularly as the car has Dualdrive electric power steering. At the touch of a button on the dashboard the steering becomes incredibly light to make easy work of things like multi-storey car parks. When you move off again you just switch back to normal mode.

Despite its diminutive dimensions, the 500C is a comfortable four-seater and is easy on the pocket when it comes to miles per gallon.

It's also a car with a very broad appeal. I was surprised during my time with it just how many people of varying ages came over to take a look - and were impressed by what they saw.

The car has a quality feel to it and is very well equipped, even in the more basic Pop spec. Standard features include seven airbags, manual climate control, anti-lock brakes and electronic brake distribution.