Nuvolari - comeback new york | Tazio Nuvolari Museum

The return of the legend - 90 years later - October 9 / 31, 2026

A heartbeat in NEW YORK

October 1936. The roar of the Alfa Romeo breaks the silence of the Roosevelt Raceway in Long Island. At the wheel is a slight man, wrapped in a yellow sweater, with a small turtle-shaped amulet on his chest. It is Tazio Nuvolari. While the American giants race on their home turf, Tazio dances through the curves of the Roosevelt Raceway. He is not just driving a car; he is bringing the soul of a courageous Italy into the beating heart of the new world. When he crosses the finish line, New York explodes: the "Flying Mantuan" has won the Vanderbilt Cup. On that car is the symbol of the Prancing Horse: it is the first victory of the Scuderia Ferrari on American soil.

A transatlantic embrace

“It will not just be an exhibition, we will bring Tazio's breath and his life as it has never been known before,” states Curator Fabio Castagna (Head of the Digital Bank of the Tazio Nuvolari Museum - ITALY). Through our Digital Bank, we will transform memory into a sensory experience that will unite the Italian American Museum of New York and our Museum in Mantua in a single, great transatlantic embrace. A bond of blood, history, and innovation. in invaluable collaboration with Museum Director Giuseppe Pottocar, always ready to support a commitment carried forward together for years to promote the Mantua region.

“In the name of the Flying Mantuan, in recent years our Museum has been deeply committed to being not only the guardian of a sporting myth, but a true engine of cultural and tourism promotion for our entire land,” states Director Giuseppe Pottocar. “A constant effort, carried out in close and invaluable synergy with Fabio Castagna, which today allows us to attract to Mantua a continuous flow of visitors, enthusiasts, and countless schools from all over the world, making the legend of Tazio an extraordinary bridge to introduce the beauty and history of our territory to new generations and an international audience.”

“It will be a great moment for racing fans, motor enthusiasts, and the general public,” stated Dr. Joseph V. Scelsa, founder and president of the Italian American Museum. “It is an extraordinary chapter of the Italian-American experience, which will be presented in a spectacular way.”

Images come to life

It will not be a traditional exhibition path. The images, photographs, and videos that will accompany the public along the Exhibition will be the starting point of a story that continues beyond what the eyes can see. Simple QR codes will allow opening, directly from one's smartphone, a new dimension of the Exhibition: a multilingual audio guide will accompany the public through stories, testimonies, and exclusive content, giving voice to the images and restoring depth to a history that continues to move people. It will be like opening a window into time. And, in some moments of the path, what belongs to memory will be able to become surprisingly present.

Through interactive technologies, the myth will be able to materialize before the eyes, life-size: the legendary 1936 Alfa Romeo will be able to re-emerge from history and suddenly become real. It will be possible to enter the frame, next to that car that once belonged only to the track and to legend, and keep the photographic memory of an impossible encounter. It will not be an exhibition of memorabilia, therefore, but an emotional journey into the race, into the life of Tazio Nuvolari, and into the man who hid behind the Champion. A path in which photographs, stories, videos, and interactive technologies meet to transform memory into an experience and make history dialogue with the present. An experience developed by International Partner GlobalMedia, capable of erasing the distance between the visitor and history and bringing them, through their smartphone, directly into the heart of the myth.

The Man beyond the Steering Wheel

But Nuvolari was not just speed. In this exhibition you will discover the man: the attentive photographer, who put himself on the line to learn every secret of the lens; the avant-garde designer; the inventor who never slept and whose intuitions are still living traces in the present today. The Italian capable of racing motorcycles in the morning and winning in cars in the afternoon. A symbol of resilience and creativity that perfectly embodies the Italian-American spirit: the ability to reinvent oneself and dominate destiny. We will tell you stories that are not just chronicles, but have become LEGENDS.

The Keeper of Secrets

If the inauguration traditionally represents a moment reserved for a few, this exhibition wants to offer every visitor the feeling of having entered a private preview. Through their smartphone, it will be the Curator of the exhibition, with his own voice, to personally accompany the public along the path. Photograph after photograph, details, episodes, and testimonies that often remain hidden behind an image or between the pages of archives will be revealed. Not an impersonal voice, therefore, but the voice of the one who built this path. An invitation to go beyond what is seen, to listen to what a photograph cannot tell on its own, and to discover the man who lived behind the legend of Tazio Nuvolari.

The Opening Ceremony (October 9).

The ribbon-cutting at the Italian American Museum will officially inaugurate the exhibition with an evening dedicated to Tazio Nuvolari and the deep bond between Italian and Italian-American culture. Introducing the evening will be the Director, Cav. Joseph V. Scelsa, who will present the Curator of the Exhibition, Fabio Castagna, of the Tazio Nuvolari Museum in Mantua, Italy, who will talk about the Exhibition. It will be exactly during the Gala that the public will be able to witness, in a world premiere, an impossible encounter with the myth: the voice of Tazio Nuvolari, reconstructed by Fabio Castagna, will resonate again after almost ninety years, returning for the first time an audio testimony capable of bringing the public directly back to the atmosphere of that extraordinary season. A steady, intense voice, steeped in adrenaline, that will make the "Flying Mantuan" re-emerge from the pages of history and bring him once again before the public, recounting the race, his emotions, and the man hidden behind the legend. Following this, the event will come into full swing with a celebration in which the voice of an Italian Lyric Soprano, Giorgia Francesconi, performing live, will accompany the historical images, enveloping the audience with its intensity and evocative power. The images will flow like a film of collective memory, giving life to an emotional video dedicated to a legend of Italian and world sport, in an encounter between voice and images capable of leaving guests with an emotion destined to remain in their memory. Guests, representatives of institutions, and the Italian-American community will be present at the event to share this special inaugural moment together. Admission to the opening night is strictly by invitation.

NUVOLARI - COMEBACK NEW YORK

Dates: October 9 – 31, 2026

Location: 151 Mulberry Street, NYC

Info: Italian American Museum , https://globalmedia.it/nuvolari_comeback_ny/index.php

Creator & Curator: Fabio Castagna

Realized by: GlobalMedia.IT

Printing: Majestic

Partner: Tazio Nuvolari Museum (Mantua - Italy), Director Dott. Giuseppe Pottocar

Partnership: Museo del Fumetto Milano, KELIWEB Srl

Contributer: Coccia Foundation, Pres. Elisa Coccia and Board of Trustees

Patronage: Association of Italian American Educators (AIAE), RADIO HOFSTRA University – SABATO ITALIANO Cav. Josephine A. Maietta (WRHU.ORG).

Press & Media Inquiries: Joe Carella, Public Relations — 212-262-8800, mail@jjcpr.com

01/10/2026 - NUVOLARI - COMEBACK NEW YORK