History nuvolari - may | Tazio Nuvolari Museum

The Month of Battles and Resilience of Tazio Nuvolari.

A cura di Fabio Castagna, Head of Digital Bank, in collaboration with Giuseppe Pottocar, Director of the Tazio Nuvolari Museum

May, for Tazio Nuvolari, was never a month of balance. It was, rather, an emotional and mechanical battlefield, where the line between glory and breakdown was as thin as a corner taken at the absolute limit. Italian roads, European circuits, endurance races, and impossible challenges: every May told the story of a man racing against fate long before racing against opponents.

As early as the 1920s, his unyielding character was already visible. In 1923, between Cremona and Parma, Nuvolari alternated painful retirements with flashes of pure talent: at Parma–Poggio di Berceto he secured a class podium, while at the Circuit of Parma he once again ranked among the best in his category. It was the early paradox of his career: mechanical fragility against an unbreakable will.

But May soon became the month of long battles and deep suffering. In 1927, across Stradella, Perugia, and Modena, fate seemed relentless: broken gearboxes, snapped chains, sudden mechanical failures. And yet, amid this sequence of retirements, a defining spark emerged at the Coppa della Perugina, where he finished among the best in the 1500 class, proving that his mere presence was enough to change the value of a race.

1928 marked a crucial turning point: at the Targa Florio and the Coppa Messina, Nuvolari fought against the extreme itself. Breakdowns, piston failures—but also a brilliant fourth place overall in Messina, alongside a class victory. This was raw, unforgiving Sicily: here, victory was not only about speed, but survival.

In 1930 and 1931, May became synonymous with endurance-driven legend. In the 1930 Targa Florio he finished fifth overall, but it was in 1931 that he made the decisive leap: victory at the XXII Targa Florio, one of the toughest races in the world, followed just days later by another historic triumph at the Italian Grand Prix, sharing the wheel with Giuseppe Campari. It was the moment Nuvolari was no longer just a protagonist, but an absolute benchmark in European motorsport.

1932 confirmed his supremacy in Sicily: once again he won the Targa Florio, turning myth into dominance. And in 1933, between Tripoli, Avus, and the Eifelrennen, he demonstrated his international stature with podiums, victories, and performances that made him one of the most feared and respected drivers in Europe.

But May was also a month of harsh contradictions. In the following years, between 1935 and 1937, Nuvolari alternated mechanical retirements due to lubrication issues and breakdowns with major victories such as the Coppa Citt� di Bergamo and his 1933 Eifelrennen success, reminding the world that his greatness was never linear, but defined by extremes.

In the postwar years, the stage changed but not the intensity: between 1946 and 1949, from Marseille to Monaco and Bari, fate once again demanded its toll. Retirements, failures, machines pushed to the limit. Yet even when victory was out of reach, Nuvolari remained a name that commanded absolute respect, as in 1949 at Marseille, where he still finished among the protagonists despite everything.

From 1921 to 1949, in the single month of May, Nuvolari contested more than thirty races across motorcycles and cars, with an extraordinary sequence of retirements, podiums, and victories that reveals a simple and uncompromising truth: his career was never a straight line, but a constant struggle against machine, limit, and fate itself.

May, for Nuvolari, was never an easy month. It was the month in which legend was not born from perfection, but from the refusal to ever give in.

22/05/21 I Circuito del Garda

AUTO ANSALDO 4 CS - 2000 cc Milan

(4� assoluto) 2� classe 2000

06/05/23 I Circuito Automobilistico di Cremona

AUTO DIATTO 4DS - 3000 cc DIATTO

Ritirato al 1� giro (guasto meccanico)

25/05/24 II Circuito Automobilistico del Savio

AUTO CHIRIBIRI Monza - 1500 cc Tazio Nuvolari

2� assoluto e 1� classe 1500

29/05/27 IV Coppa della Perugina

AUTO BUGATTI 37 1500 BUGATTI

7� assoluto e 3� classe 1500

06/05/28 XIX Targa Florio

AUTO BUGATTI 35 C - 2000 cc Tazio Nuvolari

Ritirato al 2� giro (rottura di un pistone)

13/05/28 IV Coppa Messina

AUTO BUGATTI 35 C - 2000 cc Tazio Nuvolari

4� assoluto e 1� classe oltre 1500

26/05/29 V Reale Gran Premio Roma

AUTO BUGATTI 35 C - 2000 cc Tazio Nuvolari

Ritirato al 18� giro (guasto meccanico)

04/05/30 XXI Targa Florio

AUTO ALFA ROMEO 6C Gran Sport - 1750 cc Alfa Corse

5� assoluto

25/05/30 VI Reale Gran Premio Roma

AUTO ALFA ROMEO P2-2006 cc Ferrari

Ritirato al 19� giro (rottura di un pistone)

10/05/31 XXII Targa Florio

AUTO ALFA ROMEO 8C-2300 cc Alfa Corse

1� assoluto

24/05/31 IX Gran Premio d'Italia

AUTO ALFA ROMEO 8C-2300 cc Alfa Corse

1� assoluto (con Giuseppe Campari)

08/05/32 XXIII Targa Florio

AUTO ALFA ROMEO 8C-2300 cc Alfa Corse

1� assoluto

07/05/33 VII Gran Premio di Tripoli

AUTO ALFA ROMEO 8C Monza - 2600 cc Siena

2� assoluto

21/05/33 III Avus-Rennen

AUTO ALFA ROMEO 8C Monza - 2600 cc Siena

3� assoluto e 3� classe oltre 1500 (ex aequo con B.Borzacchini)

28/05/33 VII Eifelrennen

AUTO ALFA ROMEO 8C Monza - 2600 cc Siena

1� assoluto e 1� classe oltre 1500

27/05/34 IV Avus-Rennen

AUTO MASERATI 8 CM - 3000 cc Maserati Squadra Corse

5� assoluto

05/05/35 VI Grand Prix de Tunis

AUTO ALFA ROMEO 8B P3 - 3200 cc Ferrari

Ritirato al 9� giro ( noie lubrificazione motore)-(con Carlo Felice Trossi)

12/05/35 IX Gran Premio di Tripoli

AUTO ALFA ROMEO Bimotore 16C - 6300 cc Ferrari

4� assoluto

19/05/35 I Coppa Citt� di Bergamo

AUTO ALFA ROMEO 8B P3 - 3200 cc Ferrari

1� assoluto

26/05/35 V Avus-Rennen

AUTO ALFA ROMEO Bimotore 16C - 6300 cc Ferrari

6�, non ammesso in finale

10/05/36 X Gran Premio di Tripoli

AUTO ALFA ROMEO 12C - 4000 cc Ferrari

8� assoluto

09/05/37 XI Gran Premio di Tripoli

AUTO ALFA ROMEO 12C - 4000 cc Ferrari

Ritirato al 5� giro (noie alla lubrificazione)

30/05/38 International 500 Mile - Indianapolis Motor Speedway

AUTO ALFA ROMEO 8C - 3800 cc Ferrari

Ritirato

21/05/39 XII Eifelrennen

AUTO AUTO UNION Tipo D - 3000 cc AUTO UNION

2� assoluto

12/05/46 V Grand Prix de Marseille

AUTO MASERATI 4 CL - 1500 cc Milano

Ritirato al 15� giro (rottura di una valvola). Non ammesso alla finale.

30/05/46 I Copue de la Resistence

AUTO MASERATI 4 CL - 1500 cc Milano

Ritirato al 2� giro (rottura del cambio)

01/05/48 XV Coppa delle Mille Miglia

AUTO FERRARI 166 SC - 2000 cc Ferrari

ritirato a Villa Ospizio, poco dopo Reggio Emilia (cedimento perno di una balestra posteriore)

16/05/48 X Grand Prix de Monaco

AUTO CISITALIA D 48-1200 cc CISITALIA

Ritirato al 16� giro (rottura del motore)

30/05/48 II Gran Premio di Bari

AUTO FERRARI 166 SC - 2000 cc Ferrari

4� assoluto a 3 giri dal vincitore (con Franco Cortese; al 3� giro gli cede la vettura)

22/05/49 VII Grand Prix de Marseille

AUTO MASERATI A6 GCS - 2000 cc Maserati Squadra Corse

7� assoluto a 1 giro dal vincitore (con Carini). Non ammessi alla finale.

06/05/23 VII Circuito Internazionale di Cremona

MOTO SAROLEA Supersport - 499 cc

ritirato (guasto meccanico)

13/05/23 III Parma-Poggio di Berceto

MOTO GARELLI Supersport- 348 cc

3� classe 350

20/05/23 I Circuito di Parma

MOTO GARELLI Supersport- 348 cc

3� assoluto e 1� classe 350

27/05/23 III Circuito di Tortona

MOTO NORTON M18 - 490 cc

17� assoluto e 4� classe 500 (� vittima di 4 forature)

29/05/24 II Circuito Motociclistico del Savio