La Prima Mille Miglia 26-27 Marzo 1927

By Carlo Dolcini, £44.99, giorgionadaeditore.it, ISBN 978 88 7911 688 6 Presented in both Italian and English, Carlo Dolcini’s account of the creation and first running of the Mille Miglia is a curious combination of storytelling and archive presentation. Much of the book is comprised of a fascinating collection of documents, from particpants’ subscription forms to frenziedlyscribbled lap charts bearing corrections, raindrops and smudges. Trackside press-documentation photos are testament to the sheer toughness of the event, on largely unmade roads that demolished much of the field.

The prose, translated from Dolcini’s Italian by Giovanna Vallese, is a little heavy-going in places, with certain Italian turns of phrase translating awkwardly into English. However, it lends a novelistic flourish to this tale of daring endeavour taking place amid the horror and paranoia of Mussolini’s regime, as well as serving as a vital resource for historians.