Nuvolari's Museum

The sporting career of Nuvolari, which began in 1920 and ended only in 1950, is told through a series of images, archive videos, but also cars and motorbikes driven by him on the circuits around the world. The career of Tazio Nuvolari lasted, in fact, thirty years. His debut took place in 1920, at the age of twenty-seven, with a motorbike. His feats very soon became legendary and Nuvolari earned the nickname ‘Campionissimo’ (Superchampion). He was the ideator and founder of one of the first racing teams in the world, and started racing behind the wheel of a car in 1921. In 1930 he became the official driver of the Ferrari team, appearing on track with Alfa Romeo cars with which he achieved some of his most important successes.

Here we can see the helmets worn by the ‘flying Mantuan’. In the roaring years of motor racing the safety of drivers was guaranteed by very thin helmets made of leather. Nuvolari was very careful and scrupulous in the choice of his working tools. To protect his face from the air, rain and stones at high speed he used simple glasses with a metal frame and a celluloid visor.  

Nurburgring, July 28, 1935, Grand Prize of Germany. Under the eyes of the officials of the Third Reich and against the supreme German technological expression represented by the powerful Auto Union and Mercedes, Nuvolari drove an Alfa Romeo, technically a much inferior car, and won the race, in front of an audience of three hundred thousand Germans. No one had believed in a possible victory, but Tazio was able to overturn even the most adverse forecasts. Starting that day he became the Devil for the Germans.

An amulet testifies the meeting between D’Annunzio and Nuvolari: it is tortoise. “To the fastest man, the slowest animal”, is the dedication of the poet, who gave him the epithet “the Flying Mantuan”. From that day the tortoise shaped pin served to fasten the scarf with the Italian flag Nuvolari wore around his neck when racing.

Nuvolari was a very elegant man and had a particular aesthetic taste. This quality is evident in photography. Tazio took thousands of pictures during his travels, in which his teammates are protagonists, his rivals, or his family: his wife Carolina was the perfect muse, and so were his children Giorgio and Alberto.

The bonnet of the Ferrari that Nuvolari tried to take to the finishing line in the Mille Miglia race in 1948 was lost, and then found many years later by Mario Donnini, a journalist of Motorsports, who donated it to the Nuvolari Museum. Here it is also possible to see the wheel of the car, another memento of the driver’s feats. “Nuvolari’s hand are like claws, Nuvolari has a talisman against all evil.” Wrote Lucio Dalla, in his well known song.

Tazio Nuvolari was born in Castel d'Ario November 16, 1892, and died in Mantua August 11, 1953. He was the son of well-off agricultural entrepreneurs. He took part in his last race at the age of fifty-eight and won. He participated in a total of 353 races, 124 riding a motorbike and 229 with a car, obtaining 105 overall victories and 77 class wins, and recording 100 fastest laps. He won seven Italian Championships and established five international speed records. Nuvolari was injured several times. His achievements made him into a legend. Enzo Ferrari called him “the greatest of all”. “Destiny always has an extra number when Nuvolari races. When Nuvolari passes everyone can feel his heart closer.”