Mechanics and drivers are fine tuning their vintage cars ahead of Thursday's start of the classic Mille Miglia (1,000 Miles) race from Brescia to Rome and back.
The 375 vintage cars taking part depart in Thursday evening from Viale Venezia on their way to the first stop in the four-day race: Ferrara.
Arrival in Rome is slated for early Friday evening while the cars will be back in downtown Brescia late Saturday night and will be on view to the pubic on Sunday.
The original Mille Miglia was an endurance race which was staged 27 times between 1928 and 1957 and kickstarted the careers of motor racing legends like Tazio Nuvolari, Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio and Sterling Moss, who set a course record in 1955.
The late Enzo Ferrari once described the Mille Miglia as ''the world's greatest road race''.
The race was banned in 1957 after a car crash which caused the death of the driver, his navigator and 11 spectators.
It was revived in 1977 as the Mille Miglia Storica (Historic 1,000-Mile) and has become a parade reserved for cars from racing's golden era (pre-1957) including beautiful machines like Bugattis, Lancias, Alfa Romeos, Aston Martins, Ferraris, Maseratis and prewar Mercedes and Porsches.
Most of the cars are driven by international celebrities from the worlds of business, entertainment and sports.
This year they include chefs Gianfranco Vissani and James Martin, businessmen Diego Della Valle of Tod's shoes fame and Prada CEO and former Luna Rossa America's Cup boss Patrizio Bertelli, and former Formula 1 drivers Jochen Mass and Mika Hakkinen.
Other participants include Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov, the head of the Brembo brakes company Alberto Bombassi and Fuji film and electronics boss Takao Ebi.
The aim of the classic race today is to promote the economies of 36 cities and towns the race goes through on its four-day trek from Brescia to Rome and back.
The event has attracted international attention and already by January organizers had received some 1,700 applications from as far away as Japan, Argentina and the United States.
Because of the global interest in the race, organizers have decided to take the Mille Miglia on an international road show to cities like Geneva, London, New York, Munich and Moscow.
Organizers are also considering staging a Mille Miglia outside Italy, most likely in the Middle East.
