Mille Miglia: Auto Italia

Photographer Simone Cavadini traveled to the quaint village of Brescia, Italy, to capture the rare wheels and impassioned teams competing in this year’s historical Mille Miglia road race. Around 400 enthusiasts flaunted their prized vintage cars—including Bugattis, Ferraris, Mercedes, and even a rare 1938 Lancia Astura from Verona’s Nicolis museum—for the crowd before heading south to Ferrara. An estimated four million spectators lined the race route, which begins and ends in Brescia, taking in picturesque piazzas through six regions on the way to Rome before doubling back. “It was like a classic postcard of Italy,” says Cavadini of the event. “During the day it was like being back in the 30s with the noise of the old cars, sun and music.” The course has barely changed since the race’s 1927 debut, when a group of Italy’s most famous racing drivers formed the Brescia Automobile Club and organized what would become the “world’s greatest road race,” as declared by Enzo Ferrari. “The most beautiful thing about the competition is discovering the little pieces of Italy. Rome, Firenze, Bologna, Verona,” says Cavadini. Behind the wheel of a 1930s Alfa Romeo, Argentinean duo Claudio Scalise and Daniel Claramunt beat the likes of former F1 driver Jochen Mass and Fiat’s President, John Elkann, to take this year’s coveted prize.