May 6, 1906, Sicilian mountains. Alessandro Cagno pushes his thunderous Itala into a hairpin bend, full throttle, when suddenly he hits a low stone wall . His car rolls spectacularly three times before stopping in a cloud of dust. The spectators rush out, convinced they are going to find a smoking corpse. But no! Cagno emerges from his carcass, dusts off his leather suit, puts his cap back on and calmly declares: "Well, I think I've found the limit of this bend." That day, he had just won the very first Targa Florio , a race that would become the craziest, most dangerous and most legendary in the history of the automobile.

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So you might be thinking, "Bernard, what's this Targa Florio thing all about?" Well, my friends, buckle up because we're going to talk about the craziest car race ever invented . A race where drivers raced through Sicilian villages at 200 km/h in 600-horsepower cars, where spectators literally sat on the road, and where one driver was carried in triumph instead of the Virgin Mary. I swear it's true!

The Mad Aristocrat Who Invented Everything

Our story begins with Vincenzo Florio Jr., a Sicilian aristocrat born in 1883 into a family that was literally rolling in gold. I'm talking about a dynasty of entrepreneurs who owned factories, mines, vineyards... In short, the whole lot. But Vincenzo didn't give a damn about the family empire. His passion was those infernal machines called automobiles .

Can you imagine the era? In 1900, having a car was like having a spaceship today. And this guy wasn't content with just driving one, he wanted to organize the most spectacular race in the world . So in 1900, he launched the Coppa Florio. But that wasn't enough for him. No, Vincenzo, he was thinking bigger, much bigger.

His crazy dream? To create a circuit in the Sicilian mountains , where the roads are so winding that you can get lost even with a GPS today. And on May 6, 1906, he made his crazy vision a reality: the first Targa Florio was born.

148 kilometers to be covered three times, in mountains where even goats hesitate to cross. Alessandro Cagno won this first edition at the wheel of his Itala , and as a reward, he received a magnificent bronze plaque engraved by René Lalique. Yes, the same Lalique who makes expensive vases today!

The Hell Circuit

But wait, the craziest part is yet to come. This circuit that Vincenzo had imagined was literally hell on earth for the drivers . Here are some figures to help you understand the scale of the madness:

Nearly 2,000 turns per lap . You heard right, TWO THOUSAND turns! To give you an idea, the Nürburgring, nicknamed "the Green Hell," has "only" 180. That's 18 to 23 turns per mile, or one turn every three seconds on average.

More than 1100 meters of elevation gain, mountain roads that wind like spaghetti, and all this while crossing villages where the locals took out their chairs to watch these infernal racing cars go by . I say hats off to these drivers, because learning this route required at least 60 training laps. And guess what? You had to train in public traffic , among carts, donkeys and locals going about their business!

Heroes and Legends

Okay, now that we've set the scene for the madness, let's talk about the drivers who had the balls to take on this monster of a circuit. And there, my friends, we enter the big leagues .

Felice Nazzaro, Tazio Nuvolari, Achille Varzi... These names are the equivalent of the Olympian gods for us car enthusiasts. But there is one anecdote that particularly struck me, and it concerns a certain Eliska Junkova in 1928 .

This Czech driver, nicknamed the "Queen of the Wheel," prepared for her races in a way that would have made our modern drivers look like amateurs. She walked the entire circuit , kilometer by kilometer, marking landmarks with chalk on walls and trees. And by the second lap of the race, she found herself in the lead! The male drivers were in such a state of panic that they found it "unthinkable to be beaten by a woman."

But hey, what amuses me most about this story is that Eliska had it all figured out: on the Targa Florio, brains counted more than brawn . And frankly, respect, madam!

The arrival of modern times

In 1955, the Targa Florio officially became a round of the World Sportscar Championship. On the same level as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, can you imagine? And then came legends like Stirling Moss, Juan Manuel Fangio, Giuseppe Farina, and more.

But there was one brand that would particularly mark this era: Porsche . Between 1956 and 1973, they would win 11 victories! It started with Umberto Maglioli in 1956 at the wheel of a 550 A Spyder, and it ended in style in 1973 with van Lennep and Müller in a 911 RSR.

By the way, a fun little anecdote: it was in homage to these victories that Porsche named its version of the 911 "Targa" . You see, that characteristic little safety bar above the head? It's a direct nod to the Targa Florio. Classy, right?

Nino Vaccarella, King of Sicily

But if I had to tell you about the most iconic driver of the Targa Florio, it would undoubtedly be Nino Vaccarella . This Sicilian born in 1933 was literally born for this race. He won it three times: in 1965, 1971 and 1975.

And here I have an absolutely fabulous anecdote to tell you. After his first victory in 1965, Nino arrived in Collesano in the middle of a religious procession for the feast of Our Lady . The locals recognized him, and you know what they did? They placed the statue of the Virgin Mary on the ground and carried Nino in triumph to the town hall!

Poor Nino was so embarrassed that he went to apologize to the Saint afterward. But hey, when you know every corner of the circuit by heart and drive at home, you inevitably become a local legend . In fact, even today, you can see "Viva Nino" inscriptions on the route of the old Targa Florio.

This guy was a teacher in everyday life, but on Sundays, he transformed into a legendary driver capable of taming these 72 kilometers of pure joy covered 11 times , or 792 kilometers in total. An average of 122.5 km/h in 1972, on a circuit like that! Can you imagine?

The Golden Age and Growing Madness

Well, now we get to the 60s and 70s, and the Targa Florio literally becomes a crazy race . I mean, imagine the scene: 600-horsepower Ferrari 512Ss speeding through small Sicilian villages, with spectators sitting on chairs at the side of the road, or even on them!

Even though I'm a car enthusiast, we were really close to disaster every time we raced there. Austrian driver Helmut Marko, who wasn't exactly a coward, described the race as "totally crazy."

And it's true that when you think about it, it was completely crazy . You have high-performance racing cars going at 200 km/h through villages where Grandma Giuseppina goes shopping, where children play football in the square... It was completely crazy, but damn it was spectacular!

The Enzo Ferrari Anecdote

By the way, I have a tasty little anecdote about a certain Enzo Ferrari in 1919. Yeah, the father of the prancing horse brand! At the time, he was still a young driver full of ambition.

In this post-war edition, Enzo finished the race but was not classified . Why? Because he lost a lot of time on his last lap, completely blocked at Campofelice by a huge crowd that had come to celebrate the former Prime Minister Orlando, a Sicilian figure in the winning camp.

Imagine the frustration! You race for hours on one of the toughest circuits in the world, and then you get disqualified because of a political traffic jam . That kind of thing builds character!

Speaking of Italian cars from that era, I have something that might interest you. I recently added some Italian gems from the 1960s and 1970s to my collection at bernardminiatures.fr, including Ferraris and Alfa Romeos from that heroic era. These little marvels, in 1/43 scale, perfectly capture the spirit of these racing cars that marked the history of the Targa Florio.

You know, holding one of these miniatures in your hands is a bit like reliving that crazy time when pilots were modern-day gladiators. I have over 1500 miniatures in stock, mostly 1/43 scale, and even though I'm only a small dealer with often only one or two of each model, I have some gems that are definitely worth a look.

Shipping is free for orders over €75 in France, and I make sure to wrap everything well with bubble wrap because these little cars break easily. Go check out bernardminiatures.fr if you're interested!

Well, let's get back to our Sicilian sheep...

The end of an era

1973 marked the end of the Targa Florio as a World Championship event . And sadly, it was not a glorious end. That year, the race saw an unusual number of accidents, including two fatalities.

You see, we couldn't continue to drive 600-horsepower cars through villages where people would pull out their chairs to watch the cars go by as if they were watching fireworks. Safety simply didn't exist.

And then, let's be honest, times were changing . Racing was becoming more professional, the circuits were becoming safer, and this Sicilian madness was starting to seem anachronistic. It was beautiful, it was crazy, it was unique, but it was over.

The last World Championship victory went to van Lennep and Müller in 1973 at the wheel of their Porsche 911 RSR. A great way to end this epic, with the marque that had most marked the modern history of racing.

A legacy that endures

But hey, does that mean the Targa Florio has completely disappeared? Well no! Since 1978, it has continued in rally form, a little less spectacular but still just as technical.

And then, the spirit of the Targa Florio lives on in the imagination of enthusiasts. Commemorative events take place regularly in Sicily, and believe me, the emotion is still as strong as ever when you travel these legendary roads.

I had the chance to drive on part of the old route a few years ago, and damn it was moving ! Even when driving along in a modern car, you feel like you're on sacred automotive ground.

The legacy of a legend

So, what remains of this crazy Sicilian adventure? First, unforgettable memories for all those who were lucky enough to experience or see it. Stories of courage, passion, and self-improvement.

The Targa Florio was much more than a car race . It was a distillation of everything that makes the hearts of enthusiasts beat faster: danger, beautiful scenery, technology, pure emotion.

These drivers who took insane risks, these cars that pushed the limits of mechanics, these spectators who experienced each turn as if they were in the car ... All of this is the very essence of what the automobile was at that time.

Today, when we see our ultra-secure races, our sanitized circuits, our drivers locked in their high-tech suits, we can't help but feel a little nostalgic for that time when everything was possible .

Well, don't put words in my mouth! I don't regret the progress in security , far from it. But we must recognize that this Sicilian madness had something unique about it, something that will never be seen again.

Vincenzo Florio, when he imagined his race in 1906, he surely had no idea that he was creating a legend . A legend that would mark the history of the automobile for eternity, that would inspire generations of drivers and enthusiasts.

And I, as a passionate person, can only tip my hat to all these magnificent madmen who wrote the most beautiful pages of this Sicilian epic. From Alessandro Cagno in 1906 to van Lennep and Müller in 1973, passing through all the other heroes of this extraordinary human adventure.

The Targa Florio, my friends, was truly the golden age of the automobile . A time when cars had a soul, when drivers were heroes, and when every race was a human adventure. An era that our little miniatures allow us, modestly, to bring back to life in our living rooms.

Because in the end, that's the magic of our passion: these little objects that reconnect us with the great epics of the past . So the next time you hold a miniature in your hands, think of all those drivers who risked their lives on the Sicilian roads for our pleasure and our emotion.

Ciao bella Targa Florio, and long live Nino!