Almost 400 vintage cars will participate in the Mille Miglia in Italy next week, a historic revival that pays tribute to what was once considered the most dangerous race in the world.
The original Mille Miglia was begun by the Brescia Automobile Club, partly as a response to the town’s loss of the Italian Grand Prix, which in 1922 had been moved from a track near Brescia to a new circuit in Monza. The race was from Brescia, near Milan, to Rome and back, a distance of about 1,000 miles, as the event’s name suggests.
Alfa Romeo dominated the prewar period and won 11 races over all, while Ferrari posted eight victories after the war. The record time, however, belongs to a Mercedes driven by the legendary British racer Stirling Moss, who in 1955 finished in 10 hours, 7 minutes and 48 seconds, averaging 98.5 miles an hour.
But the event was unable to escape tragedy. From 1952 to 1956 20 people were killed and more than 100 injured, prompting newspapers and politicians to call for a ban. Then in 1957, a Ferrari crashed into a crowd near Mantua, just 30 miles short of the finish line, killing the two co-drivers and 12 spectators.
The Mille Miglia was discontinued after 1961, but revivals in a timed-rally format began in 1977, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first race. In the 1980s it became an annual event, and while the modern Mille Miglia is officially a competition, the emphasis remains mostly on history, as well as the beauty and glamour of the cars and the setting (it is Italy, after all).
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