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Isacco Mariani
 
Complete name: Isacco Mariani
Birth date: 11.Apr.1892
Birth Place: Lissone (MB), Italy
Death date: 11.Jul.1925
Death Place: Asso (CO), Italy
Nationality: Italy
Gender: male
Age at death: 33
 
Event date: 11.Jul.1925
Series: Campionato Italiano di Motociclismo - 350 cm3 [Italian Motorcycle Championship - 350 cm3]
Race: V Trofeo del Lario e della Valassina
Event type: practice
Country: Italy
Venue: Lario
Variant: 36.5-kilometer, public roads course (1921-1931, 1934-1935, 1938-1939)
 
Role: rider
Vehicle type: motorcycle
Vehicle sub-type: sports bike - from 251 cm3 up to 350 cm3
Vehicle brand/model: Sunbeam 350
Vehicle number: ??
 

Notes:
An acclaimed Italian motorcycle rider in the 1920s, Isacco Mariani was born in Lissone, province of Milan - now province of Monza-Brianza - in 1892. He started his career in his twenties, riding for Garelli, a motorcycle manufacturer founded in 1919 in Sesto San Giovanni, not far from Mariani's hometown.

As a Garelli works rider, Isacco Mariani won the Italian Motorcycle Championship in the 350 cm3 class, in 1923 and 1924. During the early twenties, he also was a prominent figure on the European motorcycle racing scene. He scored remarkable class victories in the 1923 Großen Preis der Schweiz, held at the Circuit de Meyrin in Genève and in the 1924 Gran Premio Internacional de Motocicletas del Real Moto Club de Cataluña, at the Autódromo de Sitges-Terramar in Sitges, Spain. In 1924 he finished second in the Gran Prix des Nations at Monza, close behind Jimmy Simpson's AJS. The European Motorcycle Championship title was awarded for the first time in that race and Isacco Mariani became the 1924 European Vice-Champion in the 350 cm3 class.

In sight of the 1925 season, Mariani was hired to join the English manufacturer Sunbeam, competing as a factory rider. Sadly, he lost his life in consequence of an accident which happened during free practice for the Circuito del Lario, 350 cm3 class race. It occurred about 14h00 on Saturday, 11 July 1925, in the small village of Onno - now called Oliveto Lario - in province of Como, northern Italy.

Map of the Circuito del Lario race course. Image from Circuito del Lario 1934 Official Race Program; public domain.


While traveling at high speed, Isacco Mariani crashed head-on into Primo Moretti's Moto Guzzi, coming from the opposite direction. Isacco Mariani was thrown into air, landing several meters ahead. After the accident, he was transported to a nearby hospital in the village of Asso, province of Como, where he was pronounced dead of internal injuries.

As a sign of mourning, Team Sunbeam decided to withdraw from the event all the factory entries which included the brothers Angelo and Achille Varzi. Moretti escaped serious injury in the crash but his machine was badly damaged and he did not start the race. He was going towards the pits, located in the village of Visino Valbrona. At the time it was usual to make practice runs on roads still opened to regular traffic and often the riders turned direction during the proceedings. According to different sources the accident happened on Friday, 10 July 1925, this has not yet been confirmed.

One year after his death, a bronze monument was erected in Isacco Mariani's memory, marking the place of his fatal accident, at the fork between the Provincial roads 46 and 583, in the village of Onno - now Oliveto Lario - province of Como, Italy. The stele reads:
ISACCO MARIANI
CAMPIONE INVITTO DELLA MOTOCICLETTA
SULLE STRADE DI MEZZA EUROPA
QUI TROVÃ’ MORTE E GLORIA
11 LUGLIO 1925.

(transl.: "Isacco Mariani, undefeated motorcycle champion, on the roads of Europe, here he found death and glory. 11 July 1925").

Isacco Mariani was reported to be the only casualty in the eighteen-year history of the race. Alongside the Gran Premio delle Nazioni held at Monza, the Circuito del Lario was one of the most important motorcycle road races in Italy. Considered as a sort of Italian Tourist Trophy race, although held on a shorter and slower track than the Isle of Man's Mountain Circuit. The race, which was also known as the "Italian TT", was disputed from 1921 to 1939 on a somewhat triangular 36.5-kilometer (22.7-mile) public roads course near the Como Lake - Lario is the latin name of Como Lake. With the start/finish line located in the village of Visino Valbrona, the route passed through Onno, Limonta, Bellagio, Guello, Civenna, Magreglio, Barni, Lasniga and Asso. The official name of the competition was "Trofeo del Lario e della Valassina" since its first edition held in 1921; it's unclear whether the event maintained this name also in the following years, anyway the race was widely known simply as Circuito del Lario. Winner of the 1925 edition of the race was Amedeo Ruggeri on a Moto Guzzi 500. Tazio Nuvolari on a Bianchi won the 350 cm3 class.

Bronze monument in Isacco Mariani's memory, erected in 1926 in the village of Onno - now called Oliveto Lario - province of Como, Italy, along the Circuito del Lario race course.
Provided by Google Maps. Photo taken by Carlo Fertitta. Reproduced under kind permission, all rights reserved.


The Mariani family's mausoleum in the Cimitero di Lissone, province of Monza Brianza, Italy, where Isacco Mariani was laid to rest.
Photo taken by Carlo Fertitta. Reproduced under kind permission, all rights reserved.


 
Sources:
  • Book "Il Circuito del Lario e Valsassina" by Gianmarco Maspes, PAM Edizioni, Erba (CO), 2009.
  • Book "Cuori a Pistone. La Grande e le piccole storie del Circuito del Lario, 1920 - 1939" by Gianmarco Maspes, 2012.
  • XII Circuito del Lario - Programma Ufficiale 1934, retrieved by website https://www.rpw.it/Files/Lario_1934.pdf .
  • Magazine Motosprint, issue of 04 May 2010, page 22.
  • Newspaper La Stampa (Turin, Italy), issue of Sunday, 12 July 1925, page 7, article "Il motociclista Mariani si eccide mentre si allena sul Circuito del Lario", retrieved by website http://www.archiviolastampa.it/component/option,com_lastampa/task,search/mod,libera/action,viewer/Itemid,3/page,7/articleid,1166_01_1925_0165_0007_24351133/anews,true/ .
  • Website www.gdecarli.it, by Guido de Carli, page http://www.gdecarli.it/Circuiti/ITA/ITA%20Lario.htm .
  • Website Circuito del Lario e della Valassina, page http://www.circuitodellario.org .
  • Website Motor Racing Circuits, by Daniel King, page http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk/racingcircuits/Italy/Lario.html .
  • Website MADM - Guida illustrata di Lecco e paesi finitimi, page http://www.madm.it/guida/pag031.htm .
  • Website Moto Club Paolo Tordi, page https://www.paolotordi.it/paolotordi/index.php?page=archivio-civ-350-1921-39 .
  • Website Racing Memory by Vincent Glon, page http://racingmemo.free.fr/M%20COURSES%20INTER/MOTO%20LARIO.htm .
  • E-mail by Andy Marlow, dated 24 January 2005 [vehicle brand: Moto Guzzi]
  • E-mail by Marco Vasile, dated 07 October 2005.
  • E-mails by Marco Vasile, dated 08 October 2005 (two messages).
  • E-mails by Carlo Fertitta, dated 16 December 2021 (two messages).
  • E-mail by Carlo Fertitta, dated 07 May 2024.