From 9 to 13 June the “most beautiful race in the world” brings the rarest vintage cars onto the road: 450 crews, around 2,000 kilometers to travel along a figure-eight route that goes from Brescia down to Rome and back up north
From 9 to 13 June, Italy returns to host “the most beautiful race in the world”: around 2,000 kilometers of race, divided into five stages to be covered (almost) all in one go, along a figure-eight route that goes from Brescia down to Rome and back up north. An exhausting race, we know, but for the 450 registered crews, the starting – and finishing – platform from Viale Venezia to Brescia is the realization of a dream. The convoy of cars at the start promises to be among the most exclusive in recent years: a parade of masterpieces that ranges from the first OM 665 MM Superba from 1927 – chosen as always to open the historical procession in homage to the victory of the Brescia car manufacturer in the first edition – to pre-war legends such as the BMW 328, Bugatti Type 35 and 37, Alfa Romeo 6 C 1750 GT, 8C 2300 Spider, 8C 2900 “Botticella”, Aston Martin Le Mans, up to the queens of performance and elegance of the fifties such as Mercedes 300 SL Gullwings and Jaguar XK 120 and C Type, and at Ferrari who have written the history of international competitions such as the 166 MM, 250 MM and 340 America. According to the regulations, all models built before 1957 and which participated in at least one edition of the 1000 Miglia speed race from 1927 to 1957.
1000 MIGLIA 2026, the cars
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They come from all over the world with cars that we are used to seeing in museums and in the glossiest volumes dedicated to the history of the car. They drive mechanical jewels, pages of history that do not fear comparison with the contemporary, ready to travel around 2000 kilometers of the legendary figure-eight track inspired by the first twelve speed editions, crossing a festive Italy that awaits the passage of the Red Arrow with street events and club gatherings. And it is the fleet of cars that makes this edition almost unrepeatable. Fifty Alfa Romeos, twenty-seven of which are pre-war, which return to evoke the duels of Campari and Nuvolari on the 6C 1500 and the 1750 SS. Also at the starting line was the extraordinary 8C 2900 A “Botticella” from the Metropole Museum in Druten, Holland, with Frans Van Haren at the wheel, nicknamed so due to the rounded shape of the bodywork with wraparound fenders and a set-back cockpit: it was precisely with this car that Enzo Ferrari, then driver and tuner, made his triumphant debut at the 1936 Mille Miglia, dominating the race and taking the first three places overall. From the most important American collections comes a heart-pounding array of racing Ferraris powered by the legendary twelve-cylinder, such as the 166 MM, 250 MM and 340 America, ready to envelop the public with their unmistakable sound. Parading alongside them are the Maserati A6 GCS, a technical point of reference of the 1950s, the Jaguar C-Types and the XK120s, including the And then the very rare Mercedes 300 SL Ali di Gabbiano, cars created specifically for the competitions of the 1950s and which have become icons of absolute style. To seal the exceptional value of the convoy, 79 cars Participant: cars that actually experienced the Mille Miglia at speed, between 1927 and 1957, like the 1955 Ferrari 121 LM Spider Scaglietti that came out of the garage in New Orleans, Louisiana, of John Houghtaling, who took part in the Freccia Rossa of that year with Piero Taruffi at the wheel and starting time “728”, as remembered on the car bodywork: starting last in the large Ferrari team the Roman driver dominated the first part of the race setting a speed record from Brescia to Rome of 189 km/h. Deeds that remain in the legend of motorsport that transform the re-enactment into something more than a parade: it is history that moves again on the same roads where it was written. As per tradition, the modern Ferraris of the Ferrari Tribute 1000 Miglia precede the historic procession, with official departure in Desenzano del Garda on 9 June at 2pm, for a journey of approximately 1,900 kilometers through 144 timed tests and 8 average tests. The show is guaranteed by an extraordinary variety of models: from the Dino 246 GT of 1972 and 512 BB of 1979 to the iconic F40, Testarossa and 512 BB, up to the more recent SF90 XX Stradale and the different declinations of 12 Cilindri, 488, 812 and 296.
MERCEDES-BENZ AND TOYOTA ON THE TRACK
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Among the most significant presences of this 1000 Miglia 2026, that of Mercedes-Benz stands out, with four 300 SLs at the start and seven customers in the official team, assisted by experts from the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center along all five stages. The heart of the team is one of only ten 300 SL W 194 racing cars ever built: it was precisely with this model that Mercedes returned to competition in 1952, taking second and fourth place overall in the Mille Miglia with Rudolf Caracciola and Paul Kurrle. Seventy-four years later, the W 194 travels those same roads, and alongside it, three examples of the 300 SL W 198, the legendary Gullwing, two from the company collection and one from Mercedes-Benz Italia, at the wheel of which will sit Marc Langenbrinck, president of Mercedes-Benz Italia, together with the owners of the dealerships in the territories crossed by the race. The 1000 Miglia has always also represented a significant step in the history of the great Mercedes sedans, with the success achieved in 1956 by the 220 Ponton, considered one of the ancestors of the current S-Class. And the S-Class itself will be the protagonist of the Mercedes-Benz participation in this edition of the historic race, with the new S-Class of the 223 series accompanying the entire route of the event, representing the link between the tradition of the brand – which celebrates the 140th anniversary of the automobile as we know it (i.e. with a combustion engine) – and its current technological vision. For the first time this year, Toyota Motor Corporation is also participating in the 1000 miles with the 1000 Miglia Gran Turismo Experience 2026 support event created together with Polyphony Digital, developer of the Gran Turismo driving simulator series: five vehicles entered, including the 1955 Crown, the first passenger car completely developed in Japan on a national level, the 1965 Sports 800, Toyota’s first two-seater sports car, the Supra JZA80, the 2000 GT developed as a world-class grand touring car, raced by Toyota Gazoo Racing team principal Jari-Matti Latvala. Among collectors, enthusiasts and entrepreneurs who take on the role of pilot for a week, there is no shortage of well-known faces: Melissa Satta And Carlo Beretta aboard the Auto 1000, the special car that traditionally opens the Freccia Rossa convoy, the starred chef Carlo Craccoregular at the event, at the wheel of a 1951 Lancia Aurelia B20 GT 2000 berlinetta Pinin Farina, the former Formula 1 driver Giancarlo Fisichella on SIATA 30 BC from 1954, and the motorcycling champion Loris Capirossi driving a 1949 Lancia Aprilia sedan 1500.
1000 miles 2026, the route
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We start from Brescia on June 9th at 11.30 from the viale Venezia ramp, heading towards Val Trompia and Val Gobbia with an unprecedented passage in Lumezzane, then Val Sabbia, Lake Garda and Valtenesi, then the Veneto between Soave and Vicenza until the stage arrival in Padua, a city that welcomes the Freccia Rossa again after nine years of absence, with a Gala for 1,100 guests between Piazza Insurrezione and Prato della Valley. The June 10th the convoy passes from East to West through Ferrara, Modena and Reggio Emilia before tackling the Abetone Pass, arriving in Montecatini Terme. THE’June 11th it’s all Tuscany: Lucca, Pietrasanta, Pisa, Pontedera, Peccioli, lunch in the historic Piazza del Campo in Siena and the Val d’Orcia, up to the halfway point in Rome. The June 12th the ascent touches Terni, Foligno, Assisi, Gubbio, the Furlo Gorge and the Republic of San Marino, arriving in Rimini. The grand finale of June 13th it passes through Cervia, Ferrara and Mantua, with the last stamp checks in Guidizzolo – where the tragedy that closed the speed race occurred in 1957 – before the triumphal return to Brescia. “Each edition of the 1000 Miglia is a unique experience that can be renewed in the name of tradition” – explains Beatrice Saottini, president of 1000 Miglia Srl.
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PADUA AND THE 1000 MIGLIA
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There are cities that have a special relationship with the car. Not only as a means, but as an idea, as a dream, as a profound vocation. Padua is one of these. And the return of the 1000 Miglia, on Tuesday 9 June, after nine years of absence, is not just a stage of a race: it is the homecoming of something that belongs to the very identity of the city. The Freccia Rossa caravan passed through Padua 23 times, from the speed editions of 1927-1957 up to the modern historical re-enactment. This year the bond is renewed with a stage of extraordinary beauty, organized thanks to the commitment of the Automobile Club Padova and its president Nicola Borotto: the 450 historic cars will travel through the historic centre, stopping in Piazza Insurrezione and in Prato della Valle, a few steps from the UNESCO heritage art treasures, before leaving again on the morning of 10 June at 7.30 from that lagoon lounge which is among the largest in Europe. An embrace between two heritages, that of art and that of mechanical ingenuity, which has very deep roots in Padua, with a Padua chapter linked to the history of the car that precedes even Benz and Daimler. Enrico Bernardi, engineer and mathematician born in Verona in 1841 but educated and lived in Padua, obtained an industrial patent for a combustion engine in 1882, anticipating the most celebrated German inventors by a few months. Two years later, in 1884, he built for his five-year-old son Lauro a three-wheeled wooden tricycle powered by a petrol engine: one of the first vehicles in the world powered in this way and the University of Padua still preserves his legacy today in the “Enrico Bernardi” Machine Museum.
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