The first Italian Grand Prix was held at the Circuito di Montichiari in Brescia in 1921, but was then moved to Monza. In 1925, four sports car enthusiasts from Brescia, Count Franco Mazzotti, Count Aymo Maggi, Renzo Castagneto and Giovanni Canestrini set themselves the task of making their home town a center of motorsport again with a big car race. It was supposed to be a road race, mostly over unpaved country roads, starting and ending in Brescia. As route length
was about 1600 kilometers or 1000 English miles –

the unit in which the “ancient Romans” had already measured.

Two years after the beginning of the considerations, the starting shot was fired in Brescia on March 26, 1927 for 77 cars. An OM from Brescia won the premiere of the race. Even today, an OM always has the starting number 1 in the historic edition of the race.

The Mille Miglia was part of the 1953 World Sports Car Championship.

1928 was the second edition of the Mille Miglia. The route remained the same as last year.

83 vehicles started in Brescia, including now significantly more foreign brands.

At the start of the race, three works Type 43s Bugattis dominated up behind Florence, driven by Tazio Nuvolari, among others. The Bugattis were quick but not persistent. The first car in Rome was the Alfa Romeo by Giuseppe Campari,

the only compressor Alfas. Almost two hours
Campari crossed the finish line in Brescia just over 19 hours faster than in 1928. An OM in 2nd place and a Lancia Lambda in 3rd place.

Giuseppe Campari was a Grand Prix pilot, but also an opera singer.

From the start, Baron Borzacchini’s Maserati, who also reached Rome first, was 4 minutes ahead of last year’s Campari with an Alfa Romeo 1750 SS. A short time later, Campari overtook Borzacchini.

Campari crossed the finish line in Brescia 70 minutes faster than last year. An OM in 2nd place. Alfa Romeo took seven of the top ten places.

1930 was the first time with 135 cars over 100 cars at the start. Mercedes was also there for the first time with the heavy SSK with 7-liter engine, driven by Rudolf Caracciola. However, the latter should only win the Mille Miglia in the following year. Scuderia Ferrari, founded in November 1929, competed for the first time with Alfa Romeos.

Since Rome, the top three positions have been held by the Alfa Romeo works drivers Nuvolari, Varzi and Campari. According to the legend, Nuvolari sneaked up to the unsuspecting Varzi and passed him. After 16 hours and 19 minutes, Nuvolari (winner of 5 motorcycle Grand Prix) was the first to cross the finish line. For the first time the speed fell below the 100 km / h threshold.

In 1930 there was also a first death, the private driver Enrico Benini with an Alfa Romeo.

1932 wurde der Start erstmals vom Nachmittag auf 8 Uhr morgens verlegt, um den Großteil der Strecke nun bei Tageslicht zu fahren.

Bis Bologna waren die führenden Fahrer Nuvolari mit einem Alfa Rome 8C 2300 Spider, Varzi mit einem Bugatti Typ 55 und Vorjahressieger Caracciola.
Nachdem Nuvolari und Varzi verunfallten erreichte Caracciola als erster Rom. Nach einem Rahmenbruch übernahm Campari die Führung, der schließlich von Borzacchini aufgeholt und überholt wurde.

Borzacchini mit Beifahrer Bignami erreichten nach knapp 15 Stunden das Ziel in Brescia mit einer Durchschnittsgeschwindigkeit von 109 km/h.

Angeblich aufgrund Vorbereitungen auf die Grand Prixs zog sich das finanziell in Schwierigkeiten befindliche Unternehmen Alfa Romeo 1933 aus dem
Rennsport zurück.

Enzo Ferrari der mit seiner Scuderia Ferrari bislang nur Klassensiege erringen konnte wollte die Gelegenheit auf den Gesamtsieg nutzen und setzte brandneue Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 ein. Mit den Fahrern Nuvolari, Bozacchini, Taruffi und Trossi. Einziger wirklicher Herausforderer war Manfred von Brauchitsch mit einem Mercedes SSKL. Dieser fiel allerdings früh aus. Überlegen mit 12
Minuten gewann Tazio Nuvolari das Rennen. Alle zehn ersten Plätze gingen an Alfa Romeo. Erstmals wurde die Bestzeit des Vorjahres nicht unterboten.

Das italienische Land- und Forstwirtschaftsministerium setzte einen kohlegasbetriebenen Alfa Romeo 6C ein. Dieser erreichte sogar das Ziel, allerdings mit einer Gesamtzeit von über 25 Stunden.

For the 12th edition of the Mille Miglia, the biggest change to the rules was the waiver of class ratings and special awards. This reduced the number of registered cars to only 57.

Nuvolari started with an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 for the Scuderia Siena. In the Scderia Ferrari, Varzi and even the Frenchman Louis Chiron each started with an Alfa Romeo 8C 2600.

The start took place between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. The winner was expected around 8 p.m. After Nuvolari led the field to Rome, it was overtaken to the capital of Varzi. As it was raining in the north, Varzi received rain tires and new spark plugs for the upcoming route at high speeds at the maintenance point in Imola. With a lead of almost 9 minutes
Nuvolari Achille Varzi reached the finish in Brescia. Despite the rain, the course record was beaten.

The lack of safety in what is now Italy’s most popular street race meant that hardly any non-Italian teams started. In 1935 these were
only two British Aston Martin Ulster. The numerous amateur drivers at the start were another safety problem. In 1935 the total race time was 24 h 32 min. That’s how long it took a privately registered Fiat 508 Balilla – more than ten hours longer than the victorious Alfa Romeo.

Maserati converted a 6C Grand Prix car into a sports car for Achille Varzi. When Enzo Ferrari found out about it, Scuderia also built
Ferrari converted a monoposto to a sports car. An Alfa Romeo P3 became an Alfa Romeo P3 2900 Biposto. The cockpit was so narrow that only the slim Carlo Maria Pintacuda could sit in it. His passenger had to lean out of the car most of the time.

At the beginning, Mario Tadini led the race in the Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza 2.6. Varzi retired early due to a technical defect. At the finish line, the Pintacuda Alfa Romeo was the fastest vehicle – with a lead of more than 40 minutes over Tadini.

As a result of the war in Abyssinia, Italy was hit by an oil embargo from the League of Nations. As a result, some motorsport events had to be canceled in 1936. However, the Mille Miglia took place. The lack of
Fuel led to a new racing class with alternative fuels.
Divided into solid, liquid and gaseous. These vehicles were
however extremely slow and caused an unusual extension of the race. A Fiat 508 Balilla Gas drove for 31:28 hours and was the only gas-powered car to reach its destination.

The only foreign starters were Aston Martin and a Bugatti. The Scuderia Ferrari reported three Alfa Romeo 8C 2900A and was the clear favorite on the
Overall victory. The only question left was which car would win. The tough duel led to the narrowest finish in Mille Miglia history. Brivios 2900 had no lighting due to electrical damage. He was led to the outskirts of Brescia by a friend in touring cars. At the finish in Brescia, Antonio Brivio had a lead of only 32 after 13:07:51 hours
Seconds on his young teammate and Mille Miglia debut Giuseppe Farina. Carlo Maria Pintacuda came third, 40 minutes behind.

The Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 B, registered on Benito Mussolini, was driven by his driver Ercole Boratto via the Mille Miglia and even reached 4th overall place. The most important change in the regulations was the introduction of a
Touring Car class.

Serious competition for the Alfa Romeos of the Scuderia Ferrari with the drivers Pintacuda and Farina were the company cars from Talbot and Delahaye.

Carlo Pintacuda was the last to start at 9:26 a.m. Rain and storm accompanied the race, even sleet on the Futa Pass. The winner was Pintacuda, followed by Farina and a Delahaye.

In the class up to 750 cc, Fiat 500 reached the first 8 places. With an average of over 70 km / h, despite heavy tools and two heads
Crew.

In 1938 Alfa Romeo returned to racing. The racing department was called Alfa Corse. The Scuderia Ferrari in Modena was dissolved and the Alfa Corse
integrated. The head of the racing department was the Commendatore Enzo Ferrari.

For the race, four Alfa 8C 2900 B were reported for the top class, one of which was drilled to 2991 cc and driven by Clemente Biondetti. The car had around 300 hp.

After Pintacuda’s strong start, team-mate Biondetti took the lead and held it until the finish in Brescia.

The race was overshadowed by an accident in Bologna. A Lancia Aprilia skidded on crossing tram tracks and slid into the audience. 10 people died, including seven children. 23 others were injured.

Due to war damage, a completely different route was chosen.
This time over 1827 km, including the cities of Milan and Turin.

In honor of Franco Mazzotti, who was shot down in 1943, the winner of the Mille Miglia was to receive a trophy named after him.

The organization promised to attract as many participants as possible
enough fuel and a set of tires for only 20,000 lire. Thereby
of the 245 cars registered, only 150 started.

With the Ferrari 125 S, the first “real” Ferrari also took part in the Mille Miglia. After the early failure of the Ferrari, Nuvolari fought with a narrow open Cisitalia and Biondetti with one in cloudy weather
spacious coupe for victory. Biondetti won against Nuvolari by 5 minutes.