Coppa d’Oro delle Dolomiti 2016: Dust and Glory Review

Photos by Alessandro Gerelli

For the twelfth time in fourteen years, Alessandro Gerelli has covered the Coppa d’Oro delle Dolomiti from Cortina, Italy, beginning in 2002. (Read Twelve Years of the Coppa d’Oro).

This year, despite the on and off again weather, the event attracted over 90 entries, all cars built before 1965. A link to the complete entry list follows this article.

But while Gerelli was able to document almost all of the retro events, there is a wonderful book still available about the original event.

A book worth buying

In 2005 Giorgio Nada published Polvere e Gloria which was a fantastic and comprehensive look at the original event, conducted from 1947 to 1956. In the late 90s, Italian journalists Gianni Cancellieri and Cesare De Agostini teamed up to create the definite book on the event, which always played second fiddle to the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio, but had a unique charm, due to the outstanding scenery provided by the Dolomites and the start-finish line which was placed in the famous ski resort town of Cortina d Ampezzo. Much of the circuit which threaded its way through the mountains was still dirt, hence the name Polvere e Gloria — Dust and Glory. The authors have also included an appendix with full results of each year by class. No serial numbers (wouldn’t that be nice!) but complete nonetheless and extremely useful. Unlike many books, this one has a very complete index, and identifies the reference to either photos or text. The text is in Italian, but the photos are all good to excellent and consistently portray the apogee of post war Italian car design and gets a 9 out of 10 rating by the Editor.

Click here to order Polvere e Gloria

Below are a few of the entries this year, thanks to the ever faithful Alessandro Gerelli.

Compete Entry List