The Italian Grand Prix () is the fifth oldest national motor racing Grand Prix (after the French Grand Prix, the United States Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix and the Russian Grand Prix), having been held since 1921. Since 2013, the Grand Prix has been held the most times, with 97 editions as of 2026. It is one of the two Grands Prix (along with the British) which has run every season as an event of the Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, continuously since the championship was introduced in 1950. Every Formula One Italian Grand Prix in the World Championship era has been held at Monza except in 1980, when it was held at Imola.
The Italian Grand Prix counted toward the World Manufacturers' Championship from 1925 to 1928 and toward the European Championship from 1931 to 1932 and from 1935 to 1938. It was additionally designated the European Grand Prix seven times between 1923 and 1967, when this title was an honorary designation given each year to one Grand Prix race in Europe. Four editions before the World Championship were held in places other than Monza: Montichiari (1921), Livorno (1937), Milan (1947) and Turin (1948).
The event is due to take place at the Monza Circuit until at least 2031.
History
Origins The first Italian Grand Prix took place on 4 September 1921 at a 10.7-mile (17.3 km) circuit near Montichiari. However, the race is more closely associated with the course at Monza, a racing facility just outside the northern city of Milan, Italy's second largest city in its largest metropolitan area, its economic capital and Alfa Romeo's home. The circuit is specifically located in its namesake suburban town, which was built in 1922 in time for that year's race, and has been the location for most of the races over the years. Monza was built in the Parco di Monza, a public city park with a largely woodland setting, where the famous Royal Villa of Monza is also located.
Autodromo Nazionale di Monza
The was completed in 1922 and was just the third permanent autodrome in the world at that time; Brooklands in England and Indianapolis in the United States were the two others. European motor racing pioneers Vincenzo Lancia and Felice Nazzaro laid the last two bricks at Monza. The circuit was 10 km (6.25 miles) long, with a flat banked section and a road circuit combined into one. It was fast, and always provided excitement. The 1923 race included one of Harry A. Miller's rare European appearances with his single seat "American Miller 122" driven by Count Louis Zborowski of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang fame. Zborowski was killed at the following year's Grand Prix at Monza driving a Mercedes.
The 1928 race was the first of many tragedies that befell this venue. Italians Emilio Materassi in a Talbot and Giulio Foresti in a Bugatti were battling around the fast circuit. As they came off the banking onto the left side of the pit straight at 125 mph (200 km/h), one of the front wheels of Materassi's overtaking Talbot touched one of the rear wheels of the Bugatti. Materassi lost control of the car, swerved left, cleared a 15-foot wide and 10-foot deep ditch and ploughed into the unprotected grandstand opposite the pits, killing himself and 27 spectators, and injuring another 26. It was the worst accident in motor racing history and remained so until the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Italian Grand Prix went on a three-year hiatus (but the alternative non-championship Monza Grand Prix was run in 1929 and 1930) until the 1931 race, held in late May instead of the traditional early September, was won by Giuseppe Campari and Tazio Nuvolari, sharing an Alfa Romeo. The 1931 race was something of an endurance race; it took ten hours to complete. The great Nuvolari won again in a shortened 1932 race, this time held in early June.
The black day of 1933
In 1933, with the race being held this time at the traditional timeframe of early September, disaster struck again. Three top drivers were killed during the course of the Monza Grand Prix, a Formula Libre race held over three heats and a final in the afternoon of 10 September, after the Italian Grand Prix itself had been held in the morning, on what became known as the "Black Day of Monza". During the second heat, there was a reported patch of oil on the south banking that had come from a Duesenberg, driven by Count Carlo Felice Trossi, and Giuseppe Campari in a Ferrari-entered Alfa Romeo and his protege Baconin Borzacchini in a Maserati were already battling ferociously; and Borzacchini and Campari went through the south banking on the first lap, wheel to wheel. Borzacchini went through the oily patch, lost control, spun wildly and the Maserati then overturned and violently flipped multiple times, and by the time the wrecked car came to a stop, Borzacchini was pinned underneath and was being crushed by his 850 kg (1,870 lb) car, not having been thrown out. And while Borzacchini's Maserati had been crashing all over the track, Campari swerved to avoid him, and by doing this, his car went up and flew off the banking and crashed into trees situated right next to the track. Campari broke his neck and was killed instantly, and Borzacchini died later that day in a Monza hospital.
Prior to the final, there was a drivers meeting to discuss the oil patch, and it was decided to clean it up. On the eighth lap, Polish aristocrat Count Stanislas Czaykowski was on the south banking when his Bugatti's engine blew up, and a fuel line then broke. The fuel from the Bugatti's tank caught fire after touching the very hot front section of the Bugatti where the engine and gearbox were and the burning fuel sprayed onto Czaykowski. Blinded by the smoke and flames on him, he went up and flew off the banking- at the same spot where Campari and Borzacchini had crashed. The Polish driver was unable to put out the flames on his body, which were fuelled by the fuel from his wrecked Bugatti. Czaykowski was unable to escape and he burned to death. Frenchman Marcel Lehoux in a Bugatti was declared the winner of the shortened event.
Enzo Ferrari, who had been close to Campari and Borzacchini; the former deciding to defect from Ferrari's team to Maserati, became hardened by this tragedy. Today, racing historians conclude that the events of this race marked a watershed, notably for Enzo Ferrari. It was the end to the joyful era of racing and the beginning of a harsher new age. Safety in those days was completely non-existent. The circuit's condition was virtually identical to that of an ordinary town and country road, except instead of the surface being made of dirt and/or tarmac, it was made of tarmac, concrete and/or bricks. Spectators often stood very close to or even next to the track and they had no protection of any kind other than common sense. What was particularly tragic about the 41-year old Campari's death was that he had announced his retirement at the French Grand Prix two months earlier, to focus on his opera singing exploits.
The Florio circuit and other locations After the disastrous 1933 race, something had to be done to Monza. In 1934 a short version of Florio Circuit (introduced in 1930 for Monza Grand Prix) was used: the drivers had to start from the main straight but taking the south curve of the high speed ring (interrupted by a double chicane) in the opposite direction compared to the usual one; then, through the connection introduced a few years before by Florio, they took the central straight, the south curve (also interrupted by a chicane) and the main straight; finally a 180 ° hairpin turned back to the finish line. This configuration was considered too slow and since the following year Florio circuit (with five chicanes) was used. These races were at a time when Mercedes and Auto Union became involved in motor racing; the German Silver Arrows won all of these races; with superstar Rudolf Caracciola winning in 1934 and in 1937 when the Italian Grand Prix was held at a street circuit in Livorno. 1938 saw a return to Monza, which was won by Nuvolari driving a mid-engined Auto Union; just after the race renovation works began but in 1939 World War II broke out and the Italian Grand Prix did not return until 1947.
1947 saw the Italian Grand Prix being held at a fairgrounds park in the city of Milan's district of Portello, and this race was won by Italian Carlo Felice Trossi driving an Alfa Romeo. Italian Giovanni Bracco went off the road in his Delage and crashed into a group of spectators, killing five. This venue was never used again for racing, and 1948 saw it being held in Valentino Park, a public park in Turin. The 1949 race returned to Monza where it stayed for the next 30 years with the configuration ready before the war but never used yet.
Monza's redevelopments (1949–1979) Monza's banking had been built over and only the road circuit was used, which had been modified slightly. The new long, fluid final corner was now two around 90-degree corners. 1949 saw Italian new-boy Alberto Ascari, son of the late 1924 Italian Grand Prix winner Antonio Ascari, win in his Ferrari; Enzo Ferrari was now building his own cars instead of running Alfa Romeos. 1950 saw the new Formula One Championship being established. The race and the first championship was won by Giuseppe "Nino" Farina, driving a supercharged Alfa Romeo 158. 1951 saw Ascari win again, after the competitive Alfas of Farina and Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio ran into engine problems. 1952 saw Ascari complete his domination of that season. 1953 Fangio won in a Maserati; although Ascari had already won the championship at the Swiss Grand Prix. 1954 turned out to be an interesting race; as up-and-comer Stirling Moss in a Maserati passed both Fangio's Mercedes and Ascari's Ferrari. The furious pace saw the retirement of Moss and Ascari and Fangio went on to win while Moss pushed his Maserati 250F over the line.
After the 1954 running, work began on entirely revamping the circuit. New facilities were built and a new corner, the Parabolica, was built right before the pits. Extra track used for a short course was eliminated. The biggest change was the construction of the new Monza banking. Built on top of where the almost flat, narrow original banking was, these huge concrete bankings, called the sopraelevata curves, were built in the same shape as the original banking had been. The only significant difference was that the Curva Sud was moved slightly to the north. This course was combined with the road course for the 1955 event, which was won by Fangio and was the last race contested by a full-fledged Mercedes factory effort in Formula One until 2010. The 10 km Monza circuit was now so fast that F1 cars were averaging 135+ mph per lap- though rather unremarkable by today's standards, these average speeds were even faster than the Indianapolis Speedway oval in the United States. 1956 saw an exciting race, with championship contenders Fangio, Briton Peter Collins (both in Ferraris) and Frenchman Jean Behra in a Maserati fight over the win. Stirling Moss was already out of championship contention; and Fangio retired with a broken steering arm. The Ferrari team called for Italian Luigi Musso to hand his car over to Fangio. Musso ignored the order so Collins came in and handed his car and his championship chances to Fangio. Behra had retired early with a magneto problem in his own car and took over his teammate Umberto Maglioli's car; but he retired that car, too. Musso ended up leading after Moss ran out of fuel coming through Vialone. Moss was able to refuel his car and storm off after Musso and eventually the Italian retired with steering problems, and Moss, with Fangio catching him up fast, stormed round the track to take victory. Fangio took second and his fourth Drivers' Championship.