The 1948 Alfa Maserati Preti owned by Braccaioli-Celli returns to the Mille Miglia after its participation in 1949 when it was driven by Giorigii Scarlatti (number 616). Great classics always garner their share of admirers in the piazzas.
	Mille Miglia in Rome.
	Mario Ghersi and Carroli driving their powerful Alfa Romeo 2300 eight cylinder in the 1932 race.
	Luigi Bellucci’s 200 SI, which eventually had to retire.
	Piero Taruffi finishes in front of Wolfgang von Trips at the arrival of the 1957 Mille Miglia, the last ever. After the success, the driver-engineer from Rome retired from competition.
	The legendary Mercedes 300 SLR.
	Above and below: Dennis Jenkinson and Stirling Moss in the 1955 race.
	May 11 - 14 Mille Miglia Brescia, Italy www.millemiglia.it

There are many reasons to visit scenic Brescia, Italy. For classic-car fanatics, however, such a trip will take on pilgrimage proportions in May, when 375 of the world’s most spectacular racing cars of yesteryear set off on the Mille Miglia Storica.

Now the three-day event is all about glamour, leisurely progress and soaking up the heritage and a heady concoction of petrol fumes and opulence for competitors that come from as far afield as the U.S. and Japan. Chopard watches and fashion label Mariella Burani sit alongside Mercedes-Benz and Esso as sponsors, keen to cash in on the classic appeal.

And, crucially, the manufacturers still come to parade their cars and employ star drivers from the Miglia’s history. Last year Stirling Moss returned to the wheel of his now legendary 300 SLR for the 50th year of the Miglia, and no amount of money can buy this machine. Audi, too, will break priceless Auto Union cars out of its museum to join a fleet of legendary Ferraris and other Italian marques that did not survive, such as Osca and Siata.

“No other event lets us demonstrate our heritage so readily,” said Dr. Martin Winterkorn of the VW Audi Group. “The Mille Miglia is a classic event, which Audi heritage is delighted to support.”
A tour of Brescia’s spectacular architecture, Tuscany, the Alps and Dolomite mountain ranges and the towns of Verona, Ferrara, Ravenna, Sienna, Florence and the eternal city of Rome, this automotive history lesson is far more than a motorsport meeting – it’s a cultural journey punctuated by glamorous and star-studded black-tie dinners.

Catullus’s Roman villa on the Sirmione Peninsula, the monumental complex of Santa Giulia in Brescia’s old town center, Romanesque churches in the valleys stretching north of the town, the 16th-century cathedral in Salò and D’Annunzio’s Vittoriale in Gardone Riviera all line the route. The Mille Miglia Museum sits inside a converted Benedictine monastery, and the sheer splendor of the Coliseum and Vatican are just a short walk from the route through Rome; it certainly beats Turn Four and the local steak house at Indianapolis.

Millions line the route to cheer on the cars, and young boys and aficionados alike revel in the rare opportunity to get close to museum cars in action and shake hands with legends like Stirling Moss and Jochen Mass and modern-day stars including Emanuelle Pirro, replete with period clothing.
But it wasn’t always so – the Mille Miglia was once one of the most spectacular and dangerous events in motorsport.

It all started as a bit of fun. But when Brescia lost its place on the Grand Prix calendar, two of the region’s glitterati – Aymo Maggi and Franco Mazzotti – decided to turn their weekly run to beat the train from Brescia to Milan into the world’s most beautiful race. And, in 1927, the Mille Miglia – or 1,000 miles – was born.

Manufacturers were drawn like moths to the flame by their chance to prove their reliability and speed in this romantic setting, and the event soon rivaled Le Mans for pure prestige.

“The Mille Miglia was an epoch-making event, which told a wonderful story,” said Commendatore Enzo Ferrari, who made his debut as a manufacturer in the 1940 event. “The event created our cars and the Italian automobile industry.”

Legends were created by the handful, including Tazio Nuvolari driving through the night with his lights off to home in on the surprised first-place man in 1930. But 1955 was the event’s finest hour.

That year, the 22nd running of the Mille Miglia, No. 722 Stirling Moss took motorsport journalist Dennis Jenkinson and his 16-yard Kerouac-style roll of pace notes on the most intense rides of anyone’s life in a road-legal Mercedes 300 SLR Grand Prix car, one of only three non-Italian cars to win the Miglia.

He completed the course in a record time of ten hours, seven minutes and 48 seconds, with an average of 98 mph, including a memorable 170-mph jump on a mountain road and 150-mph entry into the tight winding streets of Bologna.

“I feel immensely privileged to have won such a beautiful race in such an exciting atmosphere,” said Moss. “But there’s no way you can learn 1,000 miles of road, and those notes were the reason we beat the competition and probably stayed alive.”

Sadly, just two years later an accident that killed Ferrari ace Alfonso de Portago, his passenger and nine spectators consigned the event to a historic and fantastical age.
But this event had too much cache to simply disappear and, in 1977, the Mille Miglia Storica was reborn as a classic-car rally.

Now it’s not about breakneck speeds, but the element of competition remains. It’s open to original cars built from 1927 to 1957 that hold competition papers and are at least identical to models that competed in the original event. Most are genuine former competitors.

Many couldn’t break modern speed limits if they tried, and must instead match their predicted time for each stage, losing points for each tenth of a second above or below at the finish line.

So the drivers are still out to take first place, but in an event so steeped in history competitors, spectators and casual observers feel privileged to play their part. And when the cars roll off the famous start ramp in Viale Venezia to start the most beautiful race in the world, everybody wins.