Automotive – Another Tribute To Italian Road Racing: The Gran Premio del Mugello

Vintage sports cars and the country of Italy are two of our favourite things. And when you combine the two, you end up with something truly special. In fact, we find this particular mix so great that we’ve already wrote about it once before right here on The Journal, in the form of the famous Mille Miglia – one of the world’s most classic automobile races.Featuring sleek sports cars driven by equally sleek gentlemen through pittoresque villages and beautiful country roads, chances are that you’ve heard of Mille Miglia once or twice – even if you’re not into cars. But even if you are into cars, chances are that you haven’t heard about The Circuito Stradale del Mugello, just one of a long list of bygone street circuit races that also happens to take place in Italy.In fact, knowing a lot about the big ones, such as Mille Miglia and Targa Florio, helps make the lesser known races such as Mugello, even more exotic. Because whilst each and every race has its own special moments to share, their combined history makes up the overall feeling of nostalgic fondness for a lost time of obsolete racing.Like many of its siblings the Street Circuit of Mugello took place across several decades, taking the occasional break for world wars and the frequent (and often deadly) crashes that happened at races like these. As you might remember, Mille Miglia itself claimed the lives of more than 50 drivers before being banned for good.  And even if we would have loved to be there in person, there are still very concrete ways to remember the stories with tribute events like the modern Gran Premio del Mugello. And even if the likes of Vic Elford, Jo Siffert, and Jochen Neerpasch didn’t drive in this years race, it still manages to commemorate the memories and offer some beautiful sights for those taking part in the event.This year, photographer Rosario Liberti was as the event, and the images featured prove both his talent and the timeless charm and power of vintage sports cars in Italy. Don’t forget to give him a follow on Instagram!