When we watched a belligerent man bring an entire Italian town to a halt with an Austin Powers-esque 67-point turn, it all looked too good to be true. La Repubblica now reports that it was indeed a fake.
The paper reports that the video was shot outside of the center of the town in 2011. Details get more and more mysterious from there. The viral video now has over 620,000 views and was performed by a number of local residents hired for €50, as well as at least two professional actors. Different people were told different stories as to what the video was for. Some were told it was going to be an ad for the Automobile Club of Italy, possibly for Fiat, others were told it was going to be a candid camera shoot.
La Repubblica notes that the name of the agency that hired these people is unknown, specifically that the people on video were hired by "an agency that no one remembers the name." It appears that the agency's name has been lost to history.
This story could not be more stereotypically Italian if it tried.
Additionally strange is that the agency had no camera and filmed the video with an iPad and an iPhone.
The Cardito police is trying to find a record of the request for authorization to shoot on that street, but at the moment the reason why this viral video was shot, or why it was released now remains unknown.
(Hat tip to Roberto G.!)