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; 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 twentieth century.

It started out as a uniquely Italian affair, the idea originally of one man, the Count 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 motor sport 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 motor sports 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 i.e. by Britain’s annual car 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 must have caused some interesting moments at the city limits.

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 i.e. by Britain’s annual car 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 must have caused some interesting moments at the city limits.

Amongst them a road race was suggested – one that would start in Brescia and finish in Rome. This was quickly shouted down for a race of this type would require Brescia to share the glory with Rome. It must be remembered that Italy only became a unified country in 1861.

A Roman to the sons of Brescia was only slightly less “foreign” than an American in Paris. A return trip back to Brescia solved this problem. The race would be Brescia-Rome-Brescia or approx. 1600 kilometres, to this Mazzotti is said to have exclaimed, “That’s a thousand miles” and the Mille Miglia was born – a 1000-mile non-stop charge from Brescia to Rome and back again. It was an event that would become revered the world over, as the greatest racing teams and carmakers of the era competed to win the coveted Mille Miglia trophy.

The race first ran in 1927 and once a year for the next 30 years Italy would come to a standstill as the world’s finest drivers and cars descended on Brescia. Almost every marque imaginable came to Italy with cars specially created to survive the endurance road race.

From all over Italy young men came and participated – most with more horsepower then talent, many the sons of well to do families. Weeks before the race the roads were filled with cars from dawn to dusk whereupon the drivers would retire to the cafés surrounding the Piazza della Vittoria which would go down in history as the stage upon which the cars would be scrutinized.

Over vino and “polenta e oséi” the race was won and lost many times over; everyone claiming that he knew the secret to victory. The major questions on everyone’s mind included how long would the race take and was it better to build for reliability with a reinforced car or was a light weight car built for all out speed the answer. There was even a question on how long the race would take with more than a few teams packing overnight bags. For this first race they would all be driving into the great unknown.

The entries for the race included one “frate ignoto”, an unknown monk who was actually Arturo Mercanti, the Brescian, who helped found the Monza Autodromo and who would not soon be forgiven, Italy being a country of long memories. The leading manufacturers were Alfa Romeo, Fiat, local manufacturer Officine Meccaniche (O.M.) and Lancia. There were 14 controls located along the circuit and for the inaugural race it was decided that the largest cars would start first and the largest of them all was the 8-liter Isotta Fraschini driven by no less than Aymo Maggi and codriven by Bindo Maserati, one of the famous Maserati brothers.

On the morning of 26 March 1927 at 8 in the morning, history was written and the legend of the 1000 miles had begun…