The 100-Year Legend, Part 1

In 1905, Europe’s racers must have thought it was going to be a flash in the pan, if that. After all, who would want to spend a week on a stiflingly hot Mediterranean island infested with bandits, one that had no roads, not a single petrol pump and was devoid of the big-city creature comforts that made life bearable in Edwardian times. All for a race being put together by a group of provincial businessmen, farmers, and shepherds led by a fabulously wealthy young man who was showing promise as a racing driver himself—a poor little rich boy who wanted the name drivers of the day to come and race in his own backyard. At least that was the superficial view.

But those who held it had not reckoned on the ability and deadly seriousness of young Vincenzo Florio. His sheer persistence and, it has to be said, money, succeeded in attracting a handful of car manufacturers, gentlemen drivers, and a racing lady to Sicily for the first Targa Florio in 1906, after which there was no stopping the riproaring Madonie mountain marathon. Well, not until bureaucracy killed it off 67 years later.