Aymo Maggi

Aymo Maggi (30 July 1903 – 23 October 1961) was an Italian racing car driver from Brescia and co-organiser of the first Mille Miglia automobile race in 1927.
He was an active member of the Fascist Party since 1921, partecipating and leading the local fascist militia. He was also secretary for many years of the local Fascist Party.

History

Aymo Maggi was born to Berardo Tommaso Francesco Maggi, count of Gradella, and his wife, countess Anna Vignati, in the Maggi family palazzo at Via Musei on 30 July 1903 in Brescia, Italy, the son and heir of a dynasty which would be traced back to the beginning of the 13th century. His younger brother, Camillo Maggi, was born a year later in 1904, but died from tuberculosis at the age of 18 in 1922.

Among his ancestors were Emanuele Maggi, who became the mayor of Brescia in 1243; Berardo Maggi, who became the bishop and prince of Brescia from 1274 to 1308; Sebastian Maggi in 1441, and was beatified by Pope Clement XIII in 1760; and Onofrio Maggi and Jerome Maggi, who received the title of "Count of Gradella" from King Charles II of Spain (1661–1700), who had jurisdiction over the Duchy of Milan (1450–1796).

From an early age, Aymo Maggi was trained in hunting, shooting and equestrian sports by his father, who was an avid horseman. When only 10-and-a-half months old, Maggi was placed on horseback for the first time as an infant; by the time he was 3 years old, he was practicing show jumping on his pet donkey over obstacles set on the Maggi estate grounds. The Maggi estates were also filled with horses and four-in-hand horse carriages, which Maggi's father drove all over continental Europe. However, Maggi himself was more interested in the latest automobiles driven by his father and the family's wealthy friends, and was taught how to drive by his family's chauffeur.

Maggi also grew up alongside the future count , the son of a wealthy banker from Milan, Italy, who had a summer estate at Chiari, Lombardy, and the two were childhood friends. By the age of 12 in 1915, the two boys were obsessed with cars, speed, and automobile racing. The two also became skilled mechanics and engineers through joint projects working on motorcycles, cars, and early airplanes and airships. Maggi was also trained as an airplane pilot, and achieved a pilot's license, which gained him the nickname of ''Il Pilote Gente''. However, unlike Mazzotti, Maggi preferred driving and automobile racing to aviation.

After World War I (1914–1918), the Maggi family relocated to Rome. There, Maggi attended the Military College (or Academy) as a cavalry cadet until 1919, when the family returned to Brescia. While not enthusiastic about horses or horseback riding, Maggi was still a very competent rider, and won a bet placed by his friends at the Academy for breaking in a "particularly fiery black stallion, which did its best to throw him across the cobbled yard".

From 1921 to 1922, Maggi completed his required year of compulsory military service in an Italian cavalry regiment. Maggi started competing in automobile racing in 1922, and had his first important victory in his hometown 1924 race between Gargnano- Tignale. He won at the Circuito del Garda

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