There is a brand-new look to the 80-year-old Mille Miglia. The 2008 retrospective was announced in Brescia at the end of October by its equally new president, Alessandro Casali, head of a consortium comprising Mac events, Meet Communications and the San Remo Rally, together with the city’s mayor, Paolo Corsini.
Said Casali, “The 2008 Mille Miglia will be an event of great impact. Over two million euros (more than US $2.84 million) have been invested in communications, promotion and associated events. All of this to strengthen the Mille Miglia marque in Italy and the rest of the world.”
It turns out that the Mille Miglia will not be just one event but several, including shows, concerts and other functions taking place in Brescia. There will be a concert in the city in December given by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Rome, with whom violinist Uto Ughi will perform Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” in Rome, the United States, Japan, Russia, China, France and Britain. There was no indication as to what the other events would be, except that there will be a charity evening in New York. To give everything a more professional polish, the organizing consortium ATI has engaged one of Italy’s top showmen and TV personalities, Pippo Baudo, who has created and presented some of the country’s most memorable television shows of the last three decades.
The Mille Miglia Retrospective itself will have room for more cars, although just how many was not made clear at the presentation, and will involve 50 special stages. It will start from Brescia at 7:00 p.m. on May 15 and head for its first overnight at Ferrara. From there, competitors will leave for Rome the following day. Instead of stopping on the outskirts of the Eternal City as in previous years, the cars will be driven to the city center where they will parade past the Coliseum and the Imperial Forum. On the May 17th the cars will return to Brescia via Siena, Florence and Modena.
by Robert Newman
