Targa Florio was founded on 6 May 1906, and it was a race that started from Campofelice di Roccella at the feet of Madonie, a central-northern Sicily mountain range. The race route was particularly difficult, especially in those times. It was created by Vincenzo Florio (1883-1959), born in Campofelice, a rich industrialist of valuable wines who was not only a real fan of motor racing, but a pilot himself. Itala, driven by Alessandro Cagno won the first edition of Targa Florio in 1906. In the following years Itala, Fiat, Lancia and Isotta Fraschini set the records on distance. The race was stopped during the first world war.
In 1930, Achille Varzi broke the record on distance with an Alfa Romeo 8C. The best Italian and foreign drivers participated in Piccolo circuito delle Madonie until a big accident in the 1977 race, that led to the suspension of the race.
Targa Florio was then transformed into a rally with a new regulation for safety reasons.

ART AND MOTORS: MUSEUM LIBRARY VINCENZO FLORIO

The pioneering competitions and legendary performances in the first decades of the 20th century contributed to the myth of speed generated by automobile. It was the alternative to the centuries-old immobility of the society and to a culture founded primarily on agricultural economy.
Automobile industry and tourism industry interacted from the start, involving artists and designers in their message of modernization of the society.
Artists of historic avant-gardes outlined a form of representation adapted to the new reality, an aesthetic of the car, while advertising designers represented automobiles as object of “status symbol”.
Their graphic skills were able to highlight the technical characteristics and differences between the models of the car manufacturers.
Consequently, in the pre-war years many futuristic paintings were painted by Giacomo Balla and Umberto Boccioni, related to the automotive dynamism, modern life and magnificent billboards about racing cars.

ART AND MOTORS: MUSEUM LIBRARY VINCENZO FLORIO
ART AND MOTORS: MUSEUM LIBRARY VINCENZO FLORIO
ART AND MOTORS: MUSEUM LIBRARY VINCENZO FLORIO

Achille Beltrame (1871-1945) was one of the most important and popular Italian painter and illustrator. For a lot of years, he was illustrator of the newspaper “Domenica del Corriere”, weekly Milan’s Corriere della Sera. 
When photography was not just enough, the artist used his imagination to recreate the reality in its most dramatic way.
That is how Beltrame in 1907 celebrated the epic Peking to Paris motor race: in fact he did not participate in this historical event which had a wide international echo but he was able to illustrate it using his imagination to describe the reality in which the protagonists had to live daily. On the cover of 7 July 1907 there were depicted Prince Scipione Borghese with Ettore Guizzardi at the wheel and separately the Corriere della Sera journalist Luigi Barzini. Barzini, in addition to some dispatches that he sent from the most remote areas of China, collected trip’s memory in a book that continues to be reprinted today. In the illustration there is the legendary ITALA 35/45 HP, designed by Itala Fabbrica Automobili from Turin; the car is facing a rocky challenging ascent
pulled by the arms of Chinese carriers.
Beltrame highlighted in his drawing the abnormal mudguards of the car that Prince Borghese suggested to replace in case of possible obstacles on the ground. Only a very expert illustrator could have transposed in such a real way this dramatic moment of the journey.