One thing I forgot to touch on in my ramblings was the picture of the coffee cup illuminated on the dashboard of our van. At first I wondered if the van had a coffee maker – we are in Italy after all. Then maybe I thought it was to remind the American tourists their coffee is better which is why I haven’t seen any Starbucks. Do you know what it’s for? I finally looked it up. Put your best guess below and don’t cheat and look it up online (Marcel). I’ll give you the real answer later.
The Traveling Anderzoo 
I’ve never seen that so this is definitely a guess: It’s to indicate that you have a “comfort ride” suspension setting engaged as opposed to more of a sport setting. I have one other idea too: it’s a diesel and it indicates when the glow plugs are warm. Actually let’s go with that as my official guess!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know this! Lol! My car has it. It tells you if you’re tired and makes a big sound if you veer. It totally monitors your alertness!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Actually that mug symbol is the EBPI (Espresso Bar Proximity Indicator). It gets brighter and brighter the closer you are to an espresso bar. When it gets very bright and begins to flash at a rapid rate you should be within site of the nearest espresso bar. It was introduced several years ago when the IEBOA (Italian Espresso Bar Owners Association) put pressure on European automobile manufacturers to provide a means for travelers to locate their next caffeine fix.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you all for the guesses, we do have a winning guess. Of course the winner is Kelli Rahn who drives a Mercedes and whose husband works for Mercedes! It is to indicate that the alertness monitor is on and the car will let t you know if you veer out of the lane.
Pop, great guess with the EBPI, you almost had it!
LikeLike