Targa Florio Classica, historic car regularity rally

The Targa Florio Classica is the regularity event for historic cars that every October brings the race born in 1906 back to the roads of the Madonie. It’s organised by the Automobile Club d’Italia and the Automobile Club Palermo: four days between Palermo, the Trapani area and the Great Madonie Circuit, with around 200 crews from all over the world. Saturday is the Madonie day, when the cars pass through Collesano, Castellana Sicula, the Petralias, Geraci Siculo and Castelbuono. In 2026 it ran from 15 to 18 October, for the Targa Florio’s 120th anniversary.

How a regularity event works

In regularity, speed doesn’t count. The crews, driver and navigator, must cover the timed sections keeping to set times and averages, and are penalised for every hundredth of a second off, measured also with “tubes” laid across the road. Whoever finishes with the fewest penalties wins, calculated also with a coefficient that depends on the car.

The Classica is the final round of the Campionato Italiano Grandi Eventi. Alongside the historic cars come modern Gran Turismo cars and the Ferrari Tribute to Targa Florio, a parade of recent Ferraris with its own classification.

A typical programme: the 2026 edition

The 2026 route covered more than 600 km across the provinces of Palermo and Trapani (L’Automobile):

Day (2026)	What
Thursday 15 October, 6 pm	Start from Piazza Verdi, in front of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo
Friday 16 October	First leg in the Trapani area, over 300 km: Terrasini, Erice, the Marsala salt pans and the Florio wine cellars, Selinunte, Segesta, Campobello di Mazara
Saturday 17 October	Madonie leg on the Great Circuit, with lunch in Pollina
Sunday 18 October	Optional drive to Altofonte and Monreale, prize-giving at the Marina Yachting in Palermo

The Madonie day

This is the leg on the roads of the original race, along the Great Madonie Circuit. In 2026 the crews set off at 8:30 am from the Molo Trapezoidale of the Marina Yachting in Palermo and tackled the first timed trial at Campofelice di Roccella (Madonie Press). Then came Collesano, Castellana Sicula, where a tasting of local pastries awaited them, the Petralias, Geraci Siculo and the descent towards Castelbuono, up to the lunch stop in Pollina and the return to Palermo.

According to the report by Madoniedintorni, the hardest trials were the climbs of Polizzi Generosa and the twisting section at Termini Imerese. At Calcarelli the crews stopped for the “cannolo del silenzio” from a local pastry shop.

Where to see the cars

You can see the cars along the route and in the towns they cross. In Collesano, home of the race museum, the passage of the 200 cars in 2026 was welcomed by the mayor, Tiziana Cascio, and the curator of the Museo della Targa Florio, Michele Gargano (Madoniedintorni). In Palermo the public moments are the Thursday evening start in Piazza Verdi and the Sunday prize-giving.

For the history of the race, the circuits, Floriopoli and the Collesano museum, see our guide to the Targa Florio.

Practical tips

• Times. Sources don’t give passage times for individual towns: follow updates from ACI and the local press the day before.
• Getting there. Collesano sits at 468 metres and is reached from the coast on the SP9 (see getting to the Madonie by car). Sources don’t mention dedicated car parks for spectators.
• Where to stay. To follow the Madonie day see where to stay in Collesano or where to stay in Castelbuono.
• Weather. In 2025 part of the race was run in the rain, Moceri recalled. Check the Collesano weather.

Past editions

Year	Dates	Crews	Winners
2024	10-13 October	over 230 participants	Francesco and Giuseppe Di Pietra, Fiat 508 C
2025	16-19 October	147	Giovanni Moceri and Corrado Corneliani, 1937 Lancia Aprilia
2026	15-18 October	200	Gianmario Fontanella and Giovanni Scarabelli, 1930 Fiat 514 Sport

With his 2025 win, Palermo’s Moceri reached seven victories in the Classica. In May, on the same roads, the Targa Florio Rally is held, the speed event of the Italian championship. Other sporting events are in the Madonie sports events calendar.