The Museum Hall is located inside an exhibition hall of the Castello Visconteo-Sforzesco of Galliate, to enhance the figure of Achille Varzi, champion of motor racing and citizen of Galliate, the lord of the steering wheel". Entering the Museum Hall inside the Castle of Galliate is a journey through history. The great exhibition on the pilot is a rich collection of memorabilia belonging to him, including motorcycles, portraits, gifts, photos, artifacts of his long career, collected with love by the Moto Club Achille Varzi.
The motorcycle club was born in Galliate in 1924, at the behest of Angelo, Anacleto and Achille Varzi, when the latter, in 1923, won the Italian title in the 350 cc class, with the name of Moto Lub Galliate.
On July 1, 1948, in Bern, during the practice of the G.P. of Switzerland, Achille Varzi died and a year later the board of the motorcycle club decided to name the club after Varzi.
But who was Achille Varzi? Legendary racing driver so different from today….
Achille Varzi was born in 1904 in Galliate, in the province of Novara, into a rich family of textile industrialists and began racing motorcycles together with his brother Angelo, but only rarely found himself racing on two wheels with Tazio Nuvolari, his future rival.
In 1928 Varzi decided to take care of car races with the mechanic Guido Bignami and Nuvolari himself, buying a Bugatti Tipo35, but soon he blew any deal, unable to live with Nuvolari’s strong personality.
Fortunately Varzi’s financial situation was so solid that it immediately allowed him to resume racing in an Alfa Romeo P2, to the point that Nuvolari found himself forced to buy a similar car to compete at the same level.
Then Varzi moved on to Maserati with which in 1930 he won the title of Italian Champion and in the same year he brought back home the Targa Florio, which had been in the hands of the French for five years, after a two-man challenge with Louis Chiron.
In the same year, however, he lost the Mille Miglia, at the wheel of an Alfa Romeo, beaten by Nuvolari who would approach his rival with his headlights off and overtake him.
It was 1931 when Varzi decided to return to the Bugatti Tipo51 with Chiron, winning the GP of France.
In 1933 finally the two drivers found themselves face to face in the GP of Monaco, where they were attacked for 97 laps, Nuvolari in the lead for 66 laps, Varzi for 34, until the victory of the second, a revenge on the Flying Mantuan.
In 1935 he was chosen by Auto Union in place of Nuvolari, who decided to return to the Scuderia Ferrari of Alfa Romeo.
Eight years later, Achille, as fierce as ever, returned to win for two seasons with the Alfa 158 as well as demonstrating his talent in Argentina where he became an idol and founded the Achille Varzi team. Discover also new talents, first of all one who will be a myth: Juan Manuel Fangio.
At the age of 44, the driver was back in Europe for the Swiss GP and died during practice due to the rain.
