MILLE MIGLIA MUSEUM
1,000 Miles of Racing History Starts and Ends in Brescia Italy
The
Mille Miglia begins and ends in Brescia, a 1,000 mile road trip of
nostaglia to Rome and back
for auto racing fans. As
a car racing enthusiast, I had certainly heard of the Mille Miglia,
that most iconoclastic of
early car racing
events, where the classic
great legends of road racing like Alberto Ascari, Sterlin Moss, Juan
Manuel Fangio, Mike Hawthorn, Nuvolarri dashed in their Bugattis, Ferraris,
Lancias, Oscas, Jaguars, and Mercedes sports cars over one thousand miles
of winding Italian roads. I didn’t really know that the race of
the Red Arrow began and ended in Brescia, a middle sized city between
Milan and Verona. Now that I have had the opportunity to actually drive
with the race, as a journalist, like the running of the bulls in Pamplona,
I am much more familiar (see Mille
Miglia Vintage Car Race).
The
Mille Miglia originated in 1927 as the Mille Miglia Cup. The name,
meaning 1000 Miles in Italian
was chosen
using miles because of the MM
and a thousand meters just didn’t quite accurately describe the
distance between this northern Italian city in Lombardy to Rome and back,
the elongated circle route the racing event takes over three days along
a route lined with cheering fans. The Mille Miglia has been an icon for
Italians for decades, commemorated by Federico Fellini in some of his
films, like “Amarcord”, recalling his childhood memories
of waiting all night for the cars to come down the road through his
town.
The
original form of the race, at all out speed over country roads
often called the most beautiful race in the world, was also one of
the most
dangerous and ended in 1957 after a deadly crash. The Mille Miglia
and
its famous Red Arrow which is used to show the direction of the course
was revived in 1982 as a road rally event, where timing rather than
speed mattered and it has become over the years a magnet for international
vintage auto race lovers. Classic cars from 1927 through 1957 eras
which once raced now return to Brescia every May, generally driven
by their
enthusiast
owners, many even brought out of factory museums, is now one of the
most
amazing collections of classic sports cars in the world. There were
375 entrants in the most recent event, many of them worth several
hundred
thousand dollars, some even more. A grand parade of elegance and glistening
auto prestige.
Read traveler reviews of Hotels in Brescia
If you can’t make it for the madness in mid-May but have some car racing fans in your family you can visit the Mille Miglia Museum in Brescia, an elegant collection of cars, history, memorabilia, video displays of old film footage of the early classic race event. The museum is located about 5 miles outside of Brescia town center in a former church monastery on the Viale della Rimembranza in Sant’Eufemia.
The Brescia airport is convenient for both Brescia, Milan and Parma with a car. Brescia’s main train station is a little bit out of the town center. © Bargain Travel Europe
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SEE ALSO:
BRESCIA,
LOMBARDY - ANTIQUE CITY
NORTHERN
ITALY'S BIG LAKE PLAYLAND
DON'T
LOSE YOUR
SHIRT IN MONTE CARLO
MURDER
AND A MEAL IN THE MOUNTAIN MISTS
TRAINS OF FRANCE
