Italian cars and the passion surrounding them are unequaled by any other car-producing region. So it’s very special that San Francisco should have been selected as the site for the major Italian motoring celebration in the USA, the California Mille Miglia.

It started back in 1927, when four well-born gentlemen in Brescia, 90 km east of Milano, decided to stage an open-road race from Brescia to Rome and back. Their purpose was to demonstrate the benefits of a good road system and, just maybe, to enjoy their sporting cars.

The distance to Rome and back was about 1600 km, or 1000 miles. To the Italian ear, the English word miles sounded more exotic than their familiar kilometers, hence the name Mille Miglia (Thousand Miles).

The Mille Miglia was held every year until 1957. By then, the cars had gotten so fast that several horrible accidents occurred. The race was discontinued.

In 1982, a group of community leaders in Brescia decided to revive their Mille Miglia, as a tour for historic racing cars. I was lucky enough to be accepted, with my 1955 Alfa Romeo 1900 Zagato coupe. It was a wonderful experience, and I’ve repeated it almost every year since then.

The Italian roads, with their time capsule towns, are certainly charming. But I kept thinking that unspoiled Northern California, with its scenery, fine food and wines, could give the Italians some competition. One evening over dinner, our late friend Gil Nickel of Far Niente Winery, along with Ferrari Testarossa owner Dr. Lou Sellyei, and renowned restorer Ivan Zaremba suggested that we needed a California Mille Miglia.

So in 1991, the first California Mille was held, starting in San Francisco and covering 1000 miles of our magical state, in four days of historic motoring. Eventually, the Mille came to signify the beginning of the new season of historic motor sport, much as Opening Day signals the start of the sailing season. The Fairmont Hotel became its now-traditional starting place and, along with Chrysler, a sponsor.

This year, the 14th California Mille will start on Sunday, April 25, when all the participating cars will gather on Nob Hill, in front of race headquarters, the Fairmont Hotel. Expect to see Ferraris, Aston Martins, Alfa Romeos, Jaguars, and others, all more than 45 years old. The public is invited, admission free, to a day devoted to historic cars.

In addition, the Nob Hill Association invites you to a cocktail party on Sunday afternoon from 1 to 4 PM. Tickets are $40 at the entrance, directly in front of the hotel.
At 9 AM, the first of a dozen or so pre-1914(!) cars will "race" from the foot of California Street, to the Fairmont at the top. Last year, they all made it, including a steam car, puffing like a locomotive – quite a sight.

Those old racers will be on display all day, along with the Mille cars, plus about 60 luxurious cars of the last 100 years. This third group of cars will be those in which you’d want to arrive on Nob Hill back when they were new.

As this is written, the selection committee of the Palo Alto Concours d’Elegance is deciding which cars to invite. Nob Hill Gazette publisher Lois Lehrman will present an award to the car judged the "tastiest" of this group, at about 3 PM Sunday.

Following the Sunday show, the California Mille cars leave the Fairmont Hotel at 8 AM on Monday. They’ll overnight at Mendocino, Redding and Incline Village, before arriving Thursday at the Sonoma Mission Inn for a victory dinner. Who’s the winner? Everyone – there’s no timing, so every car wins.

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A few of the Alfa Romeos you’ll see at the California Mille will have just completed a private little celebration drive. These will all be Alfa Romeo Giuliettas, a model introduced at the Torino (Italy) Motor Show in May 1954. So this drive is a celebration of the cars’ 50th Anniversary.

Several dozen Giuliettas will depart Poggio Restaurant – Larry Mindel’s new Sausalito place – on Thursday morning, April 22. They’ll drive to Ft. Bragg, where the drivers will compare notes over dinner, then return to Sausalito Friday.

On Saturday, April 24, these Alfa treasures will be displayed from 9 AM until 2 PM on Bridgeway, in central Sausalito, in a lot across the street from Poggio and the Casa Madrone. Again, no admission charge. During a Poggio luncheon, prizes will be awarded for the most significant cars on display.

Why don’t you drive over to Sausalito, look over the cars, and try the new restaurant?