The story of motor-racing legend Tazio Nuvolari is helping promote an image of Italian passion and technical expertise in Ireland, where a government-sponsored 'Italian Festival' is now under way.
Nuvolari, the man German auto maker Ferdinand Porsche defined as "the greatest driver of the past, present and future", is the subject of a major photographic exhibition now running in Dublin.
The Italian only raced three times in Ireland but by the early 1930s his fame was such that huge crowds turned out each time he did.
Many motor-racing buffs say Nuvolari, who amazed the sports world with his exploits on two and four wheels, embodied better than anyone else the courage and daring that racing is all about.
Between 1920 and his last race in 1950 he won 124 motorcycle races and 229 car races. He also had 16 bad accidents and broke bones in his hands, arms and legs and injured his eyes as well as his spinal column.
In 1935, at the Nurburgring circuit, Nuvolari scored one of his most famous victories. He defeated Germany's vaunted Auto Union and Mercedes Benz racing outfits in front of Adolf Hitler, who was outraged and refused to shake his hand.
The hosts were so expectant of a German victory that they didn't even have the music to play the Italian national anthem .
In 1938, at the insistence of Ferdinand Porsche, Nuvolari joined Auto Union. He duly drove their car to victory in the British Grand Prix at Donnington, a major triumph for the Germans.
'Nivola', a nickname meaning 'he flies', started his career racing motorcycles. It was just after World war I and he was 28. He quickly became Italian champion.
In 1924, he switched to cars and in 1927 he started his own team with a pair of Bugatti 35s. After winning a number of races on his own, he signed on with Alfa Romeo in 1929, then managed by Enzo Ferrari.
World War II interrupted the Italian's glorious career. When the war was over, Nuvolari was 53, but he still returned to racing and continued to win.
But age and acute asthma, the result of years of inhaling exhaust fumes and heavy smoking, finally began to take their toll.
He was in semi-retirement when Enzo Ferrari offered him his new two-seater sports car for the 1948 Mille Miglia (1000 Mile) classic.
Halfway through the race, Ferrari realised that neither driver nor car were in any condition to finish but 'Nivola' refused to quit and drove the car until it broke a suspension spring and he was forced to withdraw.
Legend has it that three months before Nuvolari died, he told Ferrari he should have kept going even with a broken spring. Ferrari pointed out that he would have risked puncturing the gas tank and going up in flames.
The driver replied that "to go up in flames and in one of your cars would truly have been a hero's death."
Nuvolari died on August 11, 1953, at 61, after suffering a stroke. More than 50,000 people attended his funeral.
There is a Nuvolari Museum in the Italian city of Mantua, where racing fans can see his 77 gold medals and 44 trophys.
The new Dublin exhibition, called Nuvolari, Heaven and Earth, is being held at the European Commission's headquarters in the city. It closes on May 10.
The show, which also shows off the Italian's racing goggles, helmets and racing jacket, is a key event in Italian efforts to promote the country's image in the Ireland. Cultural events and shows are being held in several Irish cities.
