Part Ia - Part Ib - Part II - Part III - Part IV - Part V

Mille Miglia, the very words roll off the tongue and bring visions of sleek sports cars driven at fantastic speeds through small villages and along country roads, forcing their way past swarms of wasps, the countless Fiats that left the starting ramp hours before. Crowds seemingly oblivious of any danger watching the true heirs of the great city-to-city races that were run at the beginning of the 20^th century. It started out as a uniquely Italian affair, the idea originally of one man, the Conte Aymo Maggi who along with his friends, Giovanni Canestrini, Count Franco Mazzotti and Renzo Castagneto met to discuss their response to the Milanese “theft” of the Italian Grand Prix. The people of Brescia considered their town and surrounding area the birthplace of Italian motorsport and were shocked when the 1922 Italian Grand Prix was moved to the new Autodromo Nazionale Monza and held under the auspicious of the Automobile Club of Milan.

The Italians have had a long love affair with motorsports yet at the turn of the century Italy was still primarily an agrarian society. In 1926 there were only 170,000 automobiles in the entire country, a figure exceeded by Britain’s annual production. Their drivers were still driving on the left side of the road while in town and on the right side while in the country, a fact that might not surprise a tourist who has driven in Italy lately, still it must have caused some interesting moments at the city limits. The Fascist government of Benito Mussolini was in power and dreams of creating a new Roman Empire were about. Races in the air, on land and in the water made the front pages of leading newspapers. Races driven by the 23-year-old Aymo Maggi scion of Brescian nobility and his equally well-endowed friend Franco Mazzotti. Together they would travel to Milan and hobnob with other young men in a hurry, the likes of Nuvolari, Borzacchini, Brilli Peri, Varzi, Danese and others.

Join SlotForum in association with Grand Prix History.Org for the next few months as we travel back to the days when ...  "no driver could ever say that he had achieved his victor's laurels if he had not won at Brescia." - Enzo Ferrari