The earlier currency flexibility was far from ideal, of course: German firms and those based in the countries with currencies linked to the Deutschmark protested every time the lira or peseta lost value.
On those early trips -- when we counted every franc or lira -- we were content to have our New Year's Eve dinner rather early at a modest neighborhood bistro or trattoria, the kind that didn't require a reservation two months in advance.
As a teenager, Mr. Del Vecchio worked there during summers, cutting metal frames for sunglasses and earning one lira for every cardboard box he folded.
Mehmet Papatya, who has been working there for seven years and lives above the bar, said: "We pay 6,000 Turkish lira [£2,110] every month for the space alone, we need to have tables outside".
God, if I had a lira for every time I was asked that question as a kid, I would be able to buy... well, a lot of cappuccinos.
Her only source of assistance is a local NGO: She survives on 7800 lira (about US$110) every month, in addition to hand-outs.
Of course with lire, every man was a millionaire, and some people found comfort in all those zeroes.
An airport bus costs 3,000 lira (£1) and runs about every hour to the Piazza Municipio.
Now it shelters boutiques like Taris Zeytin, a shrine to every form of olive oil (body lotion, for example, 13 Turkish lira, or $7 at 1.85 lira to the dollar) and olive leaf (tea, 3.75 lira, or $2 ,a box).
Now making the lira equivalent of a handsome annual $32,500 pretax, McQueen commuted every day from Milan to the Italian Alps town.
