From 1953 to 1972, the Piacenza Automobile Club organized 17 regional hill climbs from Castell'Arquato to Vernasca.
The 8.9 km route has an atypical character, as the first part is a flat, super-fast straight of around five kilometers through the narrow valley, while the mountain section, as is so often the case, consists of 34 mostly very tight bends.
At the first race in 1953 with 40 starters, Consalvo was at the start in an Alfa-Romeo 3000 CM.
Almost 30 years of historic hill climb racing
Today's event has been held since 1996 as a reminder of the good old days. The idea is based solely on supporting a dynamic competition on a closed track as an animation for the preservation and restoration of historical cultural assets.
Over the years, this event has brought some of the most important collectors of racing cars to the Val d'Arda and the public has been able to see legendary racing cars from 1907 to 2000 in action.
The fact that the whole thing is not just an amateur event is shown by the prizes won, such as the "International Historic Motorsport Award" as "Speed Event of the Year" in 2005 and the Octane nomination as "Motorsport Event of the Year", narrowly beaten by the "Goodwood Festival of Speed" at the time.
Almost stress-free
So if you like to see racing cars, design studies or unusual cars, we can only recommend the Italian "Silver Flag" event in Vernasca, just 100 km from Milan in the direction of Bologna.
Around 200 classic riders tackle the endlessly long straight and then the tight mountain stage without any guidelines. All without stress and stopwatches, very calm and relaxed.
The only stress factor at the event from June 13 to 15, 2025 was the extreme heat, which could push people and technology to their limits with over 36 degrees in the shade.
The two small, sleepy towns of Emilia Romagna in the valley (start) and on the hill (finish) celebrated their 29th annual state of emergency with the "Concorso dinamico per vetture storiche".
Rarities on the move
The wonderful thing about this event is the collection of cars that are rarely seen live and even more rarely on the road.
The first Bertone study for the later Fiat X 1/9 from 1969, called the "Runabout Barchetta", is certainly not familiar to everyone, nor is the somewhat bulky Alfa Romeo V6 3.0 "Vittoria" Castagna, which takes some getting used to.
The fact that the 1907 Fiat 130 HP easily completed the steep hill climb four times was very impressive. Many much younger cars eventually had to throw in the towel with thermal problems.
Prominence in brands and people
The Lancia brand was strongly represented with the Stratos model, and even the extremely rare Stratos Group 5 Turbo Silhouette was there.
Human celebrities also came to Italy, with Arturo Merzario and Thierry Boutsen on site and Michi Biasion from the rally scene.
Picture perfect
As there are neither winners nor awards, the pictures in this picture gallery or the already published picture story of this wonderful event probably say more than all the words in the world. But readers can find out for themselves by clicking through the photos.
