article: With the windows down, I sang along to cheesy Mediterranean songs on the radio, watching the scenery flash by. But I was there to make a documentary about Europe dancing to a worrying tune - popular discontent, fear, anger and, in many corners, an absence of hope. There is always a section in society that feels abandoned or ignored by their government, but after the 2008 crash, the bank bailouts, the migrant crises and a string of terror attacks, a growing number of Europeans have felt unprotected, exposed and worried for the future of their families. And the answer to their fears? Well if my Fiat 500 were Europe - bear with me on this one - it would be hesitating at a crossroads. The signpost pointing one way reads Angela Merkel. And in the opposite direction, Marine Le Pen. These two determined women, tough and seasoned politicians, both standing for election this year, hope to drag their own countries and Europe as a whole down dramatically different paths. A passionate European and Christian Democrat, mindful of the horrors of her country's Nazi and Cold War past, Ms Merkel is increasingly viewed as the continent's number one defender of liberal values. Barack Obama pointedly chose to visit her in Berlin on his last official trip abroad before handing over the presidency to Donald Trump. Ms Le Pen, on the other hand, is the poster child of Europe's new wave of populism. She demands what she described to me in an interview as a "new world order". A new France, a new Europe, free, she says, of the "prison" of the European Union and the "artificial" joining of European nations. She laughed at those wringing their hands on both sides of the Atlantic over the Trump Presidency. Brexit, Trump and Europe's new "patriotic leaders" in Ms Le Pen's words, are merely the end of one world and the start of a new one where, in her opinion, the people and the nation state are strong and don't answer to what she called "Globalisationists". Gone are the days in the not so distant past when national elections met a wall of public indifference - 2017 has been dubbed 'Election Year' in Europe, with key EU nations Germany, France, the Netherlands and possibly Italy heading to the polls. With populist parties standing strong, those for and against them feel motivated to vote. And not just with their pockets in mind. The famous campaign slogan, "it's the economy, stupid", associated with Bill Clinton's successful 1992 presidential bid, is no longer pertinent. Look at the Netherlands - holding an election next month. The economy there is on the up and unemployment is down. But rather than flocking around their centrist prime minister, voters are flirting with anti-immigration, Eurosceptic populist, Geert Wilders. Wherever you look at the moment in Europe - north, south, east and west - there are populist parties shouting loudly from the sidelines. The Five Star Movement is Italy's most talked-about political party right now. They listen to people, they say, not Big Business, and
summary: My shiny red rental Fiat 500 wound its way up and round the narrow, olive-tree lined lanes like a ladybird humming through the Tuscan countryside.