Event
Few rallies carry as much emotional weight as the Gran Premio Nuvolari. This four-day regularity event honours Tazio Nuvolari—the diminutive Mantuan driver whom Ferdinand Porsche called "the greatest of the past, present, and future." The rally begins and ends in his hometown, where the Tazio Nuvolari Museum preserves his trophies, photographs, and the golden tortoise given to him by poet Gabriele D'Annunzio with the inscription: "To the fastest man in the world, the slowest animal."
The 2026 edition marks the 36th running since Mantova Corse revived the event in 1991, three decades after the original 1954-1957 races were banned alongside the Mille Miglia. Around 300 crews from across the globe gather in Piazza Sordello for the ceremonial start, then cover approximately 1,100 kilometres through Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Marche, Umbria, and the Republic of San Marino. The route threads through Modena's Autodrome, the medieval streets of Forlì, Siena's Piazza del Campo, and the fortress atop Monte Titano before returning along the Po Valley plains that Nuvolari once conquered.
For spectators, the experience is entirely free. The cars—Alfa Romeos, Bugattis, Ferraris, Maseratis, pre-war machinery built between 1919 and 1973—parade through town centres where locals line the streets and fill café terraces. Evening stopovers in Cesenatico and Rimini bring gala dinners that blend competition with the unhurried hospitality Italy does so well. The atmosphere sits somewhere between sporting event and pilgrimage, drawing those who understand that Nuvolari's legend wasn't just about speed—it was about courage, showmanship, and doing the impossible when no one believed it could be done.
