Ferrari: The grisly true story of the 1957 Mille Miglia crash

❘ Published: 2023-12-26T13:29:02

Neon/STX Entertainment

Ferrari, starring Adam Driver as the eponymous car entrepreneur, features the crash at the 1957 Mille Miglia – and this is the true story of the incident.

Directed by Heat creator Michael Mann, muscular filmmaking returns to the screen this Christmas in Ferrari, starring Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz.

The movie’s official synopsis reads: “During the summer of 1957, bankruptcy looms over the company that Enzo Ferrari and his wife built 10 years earlier. He decides to roll the dice and wager it all on the iconic Mille Miglia, a treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy.”

Based on Enzo Ferrari’s true life, here’s everything you need to know about the tragic true story of the Mille Miglia crash in 1957.

Ferrari: The true story of the 1957 Mille Miglia crash

In 1957, the Mille Miglia crash killed nine spectators during the 1,000-mile Italian road race – all of which is featured in Ferrari.

The cause? A Ferrari car that spun out of control. The incident happened with only a few miles left of the 11-hour race to go, thanks to Spanish racer Alfonso de Portago blowing a tire. Flying off of the road, Portago’s car then hit nine spectators nearby, with five of them being children. In the movie, the incident is shown to take place on a quiet residential bend with only a small row of houses nearby.

Portago and his co-driver Edmund Nelson were also instantly killed. The youngest of the spectators was 6-year-old Valentino Rigon, whose 9-year-old sister Virginia was also killed. The Mille Miglia was never raced again, with automobile racing already considered to be one of the most dangerous sports in the world before the accident. What set the Mille Miglia apart was using public roads – which ultimately led to its downfall.

“It is the uncertainty of the future that attracts the adventurer most,” de Portago said beforehand. “Few professions… have less security and more uncertainty about the future than motor racing. One can be on top one second, but all it requires is a very small error and one is very embarrassingly dead the next.”

Enzo Ferrari on trial

Unsurprisingly, Enzo Ferrari then became the ‘villain’ behind the crash in real life. In hindsight, not only was Ferrari the easiest to blame because of his ownership of the company, but also because said company was struggling to keep on top of its former success. He was then put on trial for manslaughter – although this is never depicted in detail during the film.

In his book on Ferrari’s trial, author Luca Dal Monte stated [via History]: “If Enzo’s found guilty, he goes to jail. If he goes to jail, his factory shuts down. If his factory shuts down, there’s no Ferrari today. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say, if he’d been found guilty, history would have been written a different way. Not only the history of Ferrari but the history of automobiles and certainly of auto racing.”

Enzo Ferrari continued to work at the company through the entirety of the three-year trial and was later acquitted of all charges. Though Michael Mann chooses not to show the fallout of the Mille Miglia in the movie, Ferrari’s fate is documented just before the end credits.

Ferrari is in theaters now, and you can read our review here. Check out our other upcoming movie and TV hubs below:

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Ferrari: The grisly true story of the 1957 Mille Miglia crash

Ferrari: The true story of the 1957 Mille Miglia crash

Enzo Ferrari on trial