Mille Miglia Diary

5:45 AM: Time to get up. We estimate that we need to leave by 6:45 to get to the starting area at a nearby air force base. (The MM passes by a number of these installations to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Italian Air Force). It’s going to be a long day with 556 km to cover.

6:30 AM: We check the fluids in the car. I notice a noise from the driver’s side rear axle as if something is binding. Can’t find the source. I check periodically to see if the hub is getting hot, but all seems fine.

7:15 AM: Arrive at airbase, waiting for our estimated departure time of 8:15 AM. We get talking to a couple of Americans, who presumably spotted the American flag next to our drivers’ name decals. We also have British and French flags, with respect to my and Peter’s dual nationalities. One of the Americans, Mark Gessler, is based in Brescia and runs MM tours for prospective participants. He very kindly gives me the key to the time trials. We couldn’t figure out where each trial began and ended and he explained that the end of one trial (marked by an air hose) is the beginning of the next. Suddenly this made complete sense, and while we still didn’t have the elaborate timing equipment to optimize these sections, we at least would stop embarrassing ourselves. This was borne out by Meg’s report that we ranked in the mid-300s after our first day, reflecting our absolute beginner status.

Lunch:  After passing through San Marino and Pesaro, we have our first lunch stop at Macerata, just after turning inland from the Adriatic. Tents are erected, and an elaborate spread of antipasti, primi and secondi are on offer, as well as dolce and caffé. We begin to realize that the Mille Miglia is like a silk road caravan, with the food service, roadside assistance, and even the ice cream cart, rolling behind us in a giant procession. The second leg is the only instance where we experience much rain. We wait until there is zero visibility through the windshield before engaging the wipers, out of concern about the wiper’s tenuous grip on its shaft.

8:00 PM: After passing through Rieti we hit the outskirts of Rome, at dusk. We are amazed at how well the entry into Rome is managed, with police escorts and strategic blocking of intersections. We get to Villa Borghese as night falls, followed by a procession down the Via Veneto, cheered on by the crowds, and a rapid, police-escorted tour around ancient Rome including the Colosseum, Forum and Circo Massimo. As I lived in Rome as a teenager, I regularly made these rounds on the back of a motorcycle, in my friends’ Fiat 500s or driving my dad’s Peugeot 504, but this was a triumphal return! We then speed down the Cristoforo Columbo boulevard to the EUR area (where Mussolini planned the never-to-be-held 1942 exposition) and to our hotels. This was the highlight of my Mille Miglia.

12:30 AM: I turn in for bed feeling that even if everything went downhill from here I had, as they say in Rome, veni, vidi, vici’d.