Alfonso De Portago, Edmund Nelson & 9 Spectators Fatal Crash @ Mille Miglia 1957 Aftermath

The accident that determined the end of the legendary Mille Miglia as it had been known since 1927, happened at 15h30 on Sunday, 12 May 1957, near the village of Cavriana, a couple of kilometers before Guidizzolo, in the Mantova [Mantua] province, northern Italy, and some 35 kilometers (21.75 miles) from Brescia, where the finish line of the race was located.

Alfonso de Portago and his co-driver Edmund Nelson and nine spectators were killed, including five children.

The #531 Portago-Nelson Ferrari 335S – chassis #0646 – was running in fourth position at the check-point in the village of Goito. While traveling at an estimated speed of more than 250 km/h (155 mi/h) on a straight, its front left tire blew, possibly when it ran over one or more occhi di gatto ("cat’s-eyes": reflective glass devices used to warn of a pedestrian crossing or a hazard on the road). To save time, Portago had refused a tire change at the last pit stop prior to the accident, in Mantova. This may have caused his car's tires to be more susceptible to failure when the Ferrari ran over the cat’s eyes at high speed.

The out of control car skidded right round, with a loud metallic creak of the wheel on the asphalt, and struck a curbstone on the left, going airborne and hitting a group of spectators. It then crashed against a light pole which was truncated, and bounced on the other side of the road, ending upside down in a ditch. Both its occupants were killed instantly. There are widely variant descriptions of the five seconds of this devastating crash. The only important information is the tragic bottom line - the names of the fatally injured spectators, all of them were lining the road on the left side:
- Anita Boscaini, ten-year-old, from Guidizzolo;
- Carmen Tarchini, also 10, from Guidizzolo;
- Virginia Rigon, 9, from Castelgrimaldo and her younger brother:
- Valentino Rigon, six-year-old – different accounts erroneously show his given name as Franco;
- Silvestro Franzini, 27 or 30 years of age, depending on the source, from Volta Mantovana;
- Giovanni Conzato, 8, from Cavriano, whose family name is spelled Consato by some newspaper’s articles;
- Romeo Stancari, 50 or 52 years of age, depending on the source, from Guidizzolo;
- Angelo Dobelli, forty-eight-year-old from Guidizzolo;
- Pietro Grandelli, fifty-two-year-old, from Cavriano, who died several hours later at a hospital in Mantova.

Many other spectators were injured. No ambulances were at the scene and they were taken to area hospitals by private cars and trucks. Amongst the people listed in critical condition were Ettore Cauzzi, 59, Mario Pillon, 32, and two other members of the Rigon family: Giovanni, 57, father of the deceased Virginia and Valentino, and their younger brother, Lorenzo, 3. An elder sister, Rita Rigon, 19, who was standing on the other side of the road, was unhurt. A few more may have perished from their injuries while in hospital in the following days, this has not yet been clarified.

Portago, Nelson, and the nine spectators are memorialized at an impressive roadside marble site near the scene of the accident, on the SP236 Strada Goitese.

R.I.P Alfonso De Portago, Edmund Nelson, Anita Boscaini, Silvestro Franzini, Virginia Rigon, Valentino Rigon, Giovanni Conzato, Romeo Stancari, Angelo Dobelli, Carmen Tarchini & Pietro Grandelli.

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