Mantua, Italy, has a new Tazio Nuvolari Museum. After being evicted from its previous location by the town council in 2008—the museum’s contents were stored in vaults for years and then moved briefly to a temporary display area—the museum that pays homage to one of the greatest racing drivers of all time now has a permanent home once more.
Its contents are testimony to the scintillating career of the diminutive champion, who was born in the Italian village of Castel d’Ario in 1892 and died in Mantua in 1953. He competed in at least 350 races between 1920 and 1950, wining no fewer than 161 of them—91 outright, 70 class wins—as well as two European Championships and five Italian titles, while also setting five international land speed records.
The legendary Auto Union designer Ferdinand Porsche famously said of Nuvolari, “He is the greatest driver of the past, the present and the future.”
The new Tazio Nuvolari Museum, with its fabulous array of exhibits, is in a deconsecrated Carmelite church in Via Giulio Romano, Mantua, on the corner with Via Nazario Sauro, and is open Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.
Visitors will be able to see a whole range of the trophies, plaques and cups won by the great champion, as well as a wealth of gold medals, honors bestowed on him by heads of state, governments and royalty, the famous gold tortoise given to him by Italian author and playwright Gabriele D’Annunzio with the dedication: “To the fastest man, the slowest animal;” plus a host of personal effects such as his helmets, his famous yellow racing sweater, goggles, gloves, letters, autographs, documents… the list is long.
Of the museum’s new home, curator and distinguished motor racing historian and author Gianni Cancellieri told Vintage Racecar, “A quality reconstruction of the building has made the new exhibition possible. There is still much to do and a great need of money with which to do it, but the museum now has a permanent home again.”
by Robert Newman
