LA CORSA PIÙ BELLA DEL MONDO

Jul 1

Background story…

Back in 2014, my younger self was touring Europe with family for holiday. Our last destination before heading home was Verona, but we stopped in Brescia on the way there to spend the night. It was our first time there and we didn’t expect to find such a lovely city, despite being so quiet - we did arrive rather late in the evening, but it was difficult to find a place to eat dinner, while streets were pretty empty. The passion for automobiles and everything related was always there, but apparently I was a bit more ignorant back then, because I found out only by accident, while wandering the mesmerizing streets of the old town, that Brescia is hosting a Mille Miglia museum. So there I was the next day, dragging all my family to the museum instead of heading to Verona, as planned. Of course I knew what Mille Miglia was before, but visiting the museum, seeing all those cars together, sensing just a glimpse of the old glorious days, left me with a strong desire to once live more of this!

Fast forward nine years later…

During a conversation I was having with Marius long before it became official, I hear the news that he will be participating in this year’s Mille Miglia, being invited by Alfa Romeo to drive one of the 3 cars entered in this year’s competition, released from Museo Storico for this special occasion! I immediately told myself this was the long-awaited sign I needed to pack the bags and follow the red arrow! But it was such a pity to live this all by myself, so I asked my best friend Mugur to be my partner in crime on this adventure, knowing he’ll embrace this opportunity with the same strong desire. Together, we chose the least practical car for this trip: the low, small, and noisy 4C, which became our companion for the next 9 days and 6.000 km, giving us headaches when trying to fit the 2 bags of clothes, laptops and photo equipment in the larger glove box aka the 4C’s trunk, but also providing us with lots of smiles and satisfaction for our choice of wheels along the entire route.

Day 0: reaching Brescia…

After an exhilarating two-day journey, including a much-needed night's rest in Budapest, we finally arrived at our destination, just a couple of hours before sunset. Straight to the city center where the action was. And, to my surprise, I found a very different Brescia than what I remembered: the familiar old town and its magnificent buildings were now the scene of a vibrant city life, with streets filled with excited crowds, historical cars parked at every corner, terraces and bars overflowing with spectators toasting to tomorrow’s race start. And there we were, eating a fine Italian pizza at a terrace literally next to a million dollar Alfa Romeo 6C Zagato from 1929.

Gentlemen, start your engines!

The next day started very intensly: we headed first hour in the morning to the Mille Miglia paddock in Brixia to get our media passes, then went back to the city center to have breakfast in Piazza della Vittoria while cars were already starting to show up for presentation in the Mille Miglia Village, then rushed to the Museum to take some photos of the cars already present there for lunch, then moved to Viale Venezia where other cars were queuing for the start. It already began feeling like a race, although the race hadn’t even started yet! It was the first sign this is not going to be the romantic leisure trip we pictured back home, but more of a hardcore rock’n’rolla ride.

Our mission was to follow our friends Marius and Virgiliu in the Alfa Romeo 1900 Sport Spider #289, so we left Brescia immediately after they passed the checkpoint in Viale Venezia. We had no idea where to go from there, so for a brief moment we felt lost, only for a steward to move a portion of the fence and guide us within the otherwise closed area, crossing paths with the participants. I still don’t know whether this was by a very fortunate mistake, if we were even allowed to be there, but next thing we know is that we found ourselves on the red carpet, crossing the Mille Miglia Village, and taking our own start in the race! Without even doing it on purpose, we were now part of the convoy, following the historical cars leaving Brescia in the cheers of the crowd. But this wasn’t your regular oldtimers parade, the cars were definitely not holding back, pushing fast ahead, and so was our blood flowing with excitement and adrenaline.

The race.

I could probably write novels with all the memories gathered during theese 5 magical Mille Miglia days. More than 400 oldimers with an inestimable value to the automotive heritage, riding the most scenic roads of Italy across Lake Garda, the Adriatic Sea or Toscana, passing through the most epic towns like Verona, Imola, San Marino, Siena, Modena or Alessandria, driving through or stopping in places where no other cars would normally be allowed, while speeding on the open roads almost like there were no rules and limits - just like in a real race. No wonder it’s still called “la corsa più bella del mondo”, even if many years have passed after it was first described like this, and now it has become more of a celebration than an actual race.

We really didn’t do much homework before coming here, so many things caught us by surprise and we had to improvise. Luckily, most things were extremely pleasant surprises, like our first day impromptu parade on the red carpet back in Brescia. And then this happened later in the evening, while we found ourselves in Imola, ahead of our #289 crew... It was getting late and dark, so we decided to head to our hotel in Cervia and call it a day. The GPS was suggesting a faster way, but Mugur insisted we follow the Mille Miglia route. We catched up with a few participants and start following them without paying too much attention to the surroundings, until we ended up queuing in what seemed to us like a regular car park. We were a bit disappointed for being stuck there, but it was too late now to turn around, so we continued straight ahead. Just to find ourselves insode the Imola paddock, next to cars preparing to start their special stage on the track. That one lap that followed, on the legendary Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari F1 racetrack, at night, with only candles from the Tamburello corner lighting up the dark honouring Ayrton Senna’s memory, I believe it was the most epic thing we experienced at Mille Miglia!

The saga of awesome memories didn’t end here! By the 2nd day we reached the ancient city of Rome, a place I’ve never been to before. Sadly, we reached our destination a bit too late, just after the participants’ arrival party ended. But it was the 3rd day I was more eager about, because we entered Tuscany, and we were also passing through the city of Siena, a place that stole my heart years ago. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to enter the old town by car, but as every cloud has a silver lining, our walk towards Porta San Marco offered us some unique views over the cars that kept flowing. It was really hot, it was lunch time and we had skipped breakfast, so we decided to stop for a quick coffee and a snack soon after entering the old town. We were lucky enough to catch one of the only two tables a small restaurant had to offer outside, so there we were, eating some fine Italian pasta, with cars almost driving over our toes while turning towards Piazza del Campo. It was like having front row tickets to the gereatest automotive show on Earth, with food & drinks included, but as much as we wanted to stay there and enjoy the show, we couldn’t miss the action in what has to be during Mille Miglia Italy’s most impressive square. I was picturing it in my head from the very moment I found Siena on the Mille Miglia map, but what followed exceeded all my expectations: all those fabulous cars resting together, lined up on the colored stripes forming the Italian tricolore, circled by these monumental buildings. It was an overwhelming sight!

On the 4th day, we decided to travel with the old ladies. As you probably know, even the newest cars in the Mille Miglia race are still from the ‘50s, so not quite young anymore, but we found ourselves rolling with a small convoy of pre-war Alfas. It was so poetic, cruising gently, until all of us in the small convoy got frantically overtaken by this spectacle of a 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C Monza. We wanted to reach Alessandria faster anyway, so we decided to go for a chase. And boy what a chase that was! I have never imagined a car that age can go that fast, and do it so effortlessly. I found myself seriously pushing the 4C to keep up, while the lovely couple in that car kept smiling and waving at us!

Although we were there to support and follow in action our participants, Marius & Virgiliu riding the #289 Alfa Romeo 1900 Sport Spider, our paths rarely crossed, such is the magnitude of this event and the sheer number of people involved. And when our paths did cross, they separated quickly: either because we lingered a little longer taking pictures and it was then quite hard to catch up, or because we got diverted on different routes while they were taking on the special stages. We had barely spoken during the 5 days of the race. But I kept faith the universe had to make justice at some point and bring us together in this adventure for more than a brief moment! And there was no better moment than the descent from Passo del Abetone. Sun was about to set as we found the perfect hairpin bend to take some photos. The temperature was just about right after a very hot day. It was pretty quiet, only cars disturbing the peaceful surroundings from time to time, on the otherwise untraveled road. You could hear the roars of the old school engines approaching from quite far. And here they are, after a long wait, the men we were waiting for, our two brave alfisti, still keeping a large smile on their faces after a long and exhausting day. After taking our best shots, we jumped in our 4C, pushed hard for a few bends to catch up, and continued our descent together for the rest of the route: just us and them, on a scenic road, at dusk, both windows down, enjoying a freshly windy blow, but also the enchanting symphony produced by our engines, in a synergy of old and modern.

Farewell…

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. On the 5th Day, our routes separated, as we took the way back home, with Mille Miglia forever in our hearts. We didn’t get to see our guys back in Brescia crossing the finish line, although we had our fair share of pride seeing them on the stage in Milano, in front of the Duomo, proudly proclaiming “We Are Alfisti”! I know everyone envies them for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but very few people know that, as fun as it sounds, it takes a lot of courage and effort to make it until the end. They were amazing. I saw them on fire, and they kept pushing harder when someone else would have just given up. For me, these guys are heroes!