Mille Miglia ‘The most beautiful race in the world’ (according to Enzo Ferrari)

The Mille Miglia ‘The most beautiful race in the world’ (according to Enzo Ferrari)

The Petrolheads Welcome team like to do at least one European tour each year.  Our destination for 2018 was to be Umbria taking in the sites of the Motor Valley along the way.  Being the good research director that she is, Gillian soon realised that we could take in the Mille Miglia. So of course we had to factor this into our route. For those who don’t know (with apologies to those of you who do) here is a bit of background.

The route travels from Brescia to Rome and back in just 4 days and covers 1,500 km – or a thousand Roman miles, which is where the name comes from.   It started as an open road endurance test in 1927 and continued as such until 1957.  Then in 1977 it was re-launched as a classic and vintage race.  Over 400 cars take part and to qualify for entry they must have raced in period and pass an acceptance process.

The race starts and ends in Brescia but we based ourselves at the Hotel Benaco in the lovely town of Desenzano Del Garda on the shores of the lake.  This allowed us to leave the cars at the hotel on day one and take the short train journey into Brescia for scrutineering. That’s something we would recommend if you are planning the trip as Brescia is a large busy town with many road closures during the event.

We spent the morning of the next day wandering down to the lakeside to see the advance party of Ferraris and Mercedes that were accompanying the official tour and taking in the atmosphere as the local bars prepared for the influx of visitors.

Our hotel owner and fellow ‘petrol head’ Gregory gave us loads of tips on where to watch the cars go through town in the afternoon. And what a truly ‘Italian experience’ we had.  Sitting at a pavement bar at the main junction to the lake, we were entertained not only by the cars but by the locals who very vocally let the ‘ordinary’ car drivers know how they felt when they attempted to get through the road blocks.  However, the greatest abuse was saved for the unofficial cars and drivers who had dressed up in an attempt to sneak through the road closures.  It didn’t take us long to learn some choice Italian words and join in the fun!

You could follow the whole route for 4 days if you want to, but we felt that watching the same 400+ cars go by on 2 consecutive days was enough, even for hardened petrol heads like us.  So we left town the next day for more adventures in Umbria.

If it’s not yet on your list for a future tour, add it now!

Here’s our little video: