It all started with a spite. After the first edition was held in Montichiari, near Brescia, the Italian Grand Prix moved to Monza, where a new racing circuit had been built and was destined to become the temple of speed.
Four friends did not accept this well, and invented a competition that history would later call "the race of races": the Mille Miglia, a name suggested by Franco Mazzotti from Brescia after a trip to America. The route in fact covered 1600 kilometres with start in Brescia, arrival in Rome and return.
The first edition started on 26 March 1927, the last one ended on 12 May 1957: a destiny decreed by the tragedy of Guidizzolo, where the exit of the Ferrari of the Spanish marquis Alfonso De Portago and his co-driver Edmund Gurner mowed down nine spectators including five children, in addition to the death of both drivers.
American actress Linda Christian, De Portago's companion after his separation from Tyrone Power, got the news on the finish line, where she was waiting for his triumphant arrival. The Mille Miglia ended there.
The name will survive, but it will be a different race. The history of the Mille Miglia spans those three decades, with the break in the war.
Editions with many epic moments, including that of Nuvolari's "headlights off": an expedient to overtake Varzi. Not to mention a crew that stopped at a trattoria and quickly took away two sandwiches and a flask of wine. "E i soldi?", "Paga Ferrari!".
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