"The driver Ugo Sivocci drove the sports version of the R.L. car to victory, which was then called therefore called Targa Florio."

Alfa Romeo's first victory at the Targa Florio was in 1923. The driver Ugo Sivocci drove the sports version of the R.L car to victory, which was then named Targa Florio, but adverse fate deprived him of his life just four months later. But apart from the sporting results, his role was legendary because he founded, together with Giuseppe Campari, Enzo Ferrari and Antonio Ascari (father of the more famous Alberto) the first official Alfa Romeo sports team, the legendary Alfa Romeo Racing Team. His destiny was also that of his companions, all dead on the track, with the sole exception of Ferrari who was the only one of the four who stopped racing to devote himself to the sports management of Alfa Romeo. sports management of Alfa. The Alfa Romeo racing team of that year was formidable, with new competition cars that all performed magnificently. magnificently.

Sivocci, for superstition, before the start of the race had painted on the bonnet of his car a green four-leaf clover that was not exactly identical to the one that Alfa Romeo used on its racing cars. He had it painted on the forward part of the radiator on a white background in the shape of a quadrilateral, after his death the white background took on a triangular shape, and the lucky clover was moved to the sides. Ugo Sivocci was born on 29th August 1885 in Aversa, albeit by chance. His father Giuseppe was a conductor and travelled a lot, with his family in tow. During one of his stays in Campania, Ugo was born, and for the rest of his life he actually lived only in Milan. Unfortunately, Sivocci soon passed away, in the same year as his splendid victory at the Targa Florio. He was at the wheel of another Alfa Romeo, the P1 designed in the autumn of 1922 by Giuseppe Sivocci. in the autumn of 1922 by Giuseppe Merosi and his helper Santoni, but it was devoid of a talisman.

It wasn't a race, it was the practice for the 1923 Italian Grand Prix at the Monza circuit. Ferrari was one of the first to arrive on the scene and managed to pull his friend's mechanic, who fortunately survived that terrible accident, out of the car. As a sign of mourning, Alfa Romeo withdrew from the race. That bend is now called the Ascari bend but it should have been named after him because Ugo Sivocci was the first great victim of the Monza circuit. great victim of the Monza circuit.