Wild racing, wild parties and wild boar: Why no one sleeps in Italy’s Mugello

By Jonathan Hawkins, CNN

Mugello, Italy (CNN) — It is a sultry Friday night in high summer on a rolling, cypress tree-lined hillside near the little town of Scarperia e San Piero, in the heart of Italy’s Tuscany region. A bearded man in red fishnet tights and a matching vinyl minidress sways with a beer can in one hand and a smile on his face.

Behind him, beside a rainbow-colored paddling pool, another man in a tank top and shorts wields something that looks like a chainsaw crossed with a trumpet, which he revs and waves around.

Around them, disco lights spill out from beneath a motorhome, piercing the haze from flares and exhaust fumes. A procession of people glides by, some on foot, others riding motorcycles of every shape and size. Music booms out into the night air, blending with the incessant roar of engines.

‘At Mugello you don’t sleep’

You could be forgiven for thinking you’d wandered into an avant-garde music festival or the set of a “Mad Max” sequel. But this is Mugello, home to the Italian Motorcycle Grand Prix — and one of the biggest parties in motorsport.

Formula 1 has Monaco, with its ostentation and air of exclusivity. Mugello, in perhaps Italy’s most idyllic region, offers something no less iconic, but altogether more visceral – and arguably, a lot more fun.

“They say al Mugello non si dorme, at Mugello you don’t sleep,” says Davide Tardozzi, Ducati’s MotoGP manager, grinning. “It’s true… Because there are crowds and fans that are enjoying the night – a long night.”

Justin Marks, owner of both the Trackhouse MotoGP and NASCAR teams, likens it to the Daytona 500. “I don’t think there’s a cooler race in the world than the Daytona 500,” he told CNN in Austin this year. “When you go to the Daytona 500 and there’s 200,000 people on the ground, and it’s this great American motorsport event, it’s really special; but when I went to the Italian grand prix at Mugello and the hills of Tuscany, and the fans, it had that same special sort of feel to it.”

The appeal begins with the location. North from Florence, the roads twist through rolling hills and ancient villages, past rippling streams and the dappled shade from oak trees. Forty-five minutes later, the racetrack appears almost without warning — coiled like a basking viper in the Tuscan countryside.

Ferrari connection

Owned by Ferrari, Mugello Circuit serves as a testing ground for the Italian manufacturer’s F1 cars. A bright red helmet-shaped booth, adorned with the company’s famous prancing horse logo, stands at the main entrance. The track’s curves are painted in the green, white and red of the Italian flag, grandstands are embedded into the landscape and campsites sprawl into the distance.

“Mugello is pure passion,” says Fabio Di Giannantonio, one of two Italian riders for the VR46 Ducati team. “For sure, it’s our home race here in Italy, where family, friends, fans come to see the race; we see this unbelievable place transforming day by day with all the fans coming. It’s like a stadium, with all the hills around the track, and it’s just an unbelievable place to (experience).”

Crowds begin gathering before race weekend, as MotoGP’s multimillion-dollar traveling circus rolls into town.

Among the arrivals is Paolo Campinoti, principal of the Prima Pramac team, with whom world champion Jorge Martín clinched the premier-class title in 2024.

Passion, color and energy

“Everything is special about Mugello,” Campinoti tells CNN. “I actually get here by Vespa from my house in Florence, which says it all. There’s a deep history behind the track; it’s a true symbol of Italianità — an Italian circuit through and through. The fans bring an incredible atmosphere, full of passion, color and energy. It’s not just a race — it’s a celebration.”

Campinoti and his wife spend the race weekend in the team’s two-story motor home, parked in the paddock. “I love sleeping at the track because it allows me to really feel part of the MotoGP community and soak in the atmosphere of this special weekend,” he says. “Most riders sleep at the track as well, so after dinner it’s usually nice to catch up and chat with them — away from all the chaos that happens during the day. Waking up here, having breakfast with the team, and being right in the middle of the action from the very start — it’s something truly meaningful.”

Dominika Grnova, a motorsports reporter covering the Red Bull Rookies Cup — a proving ground for top riders of the future — is equally enamored with Mugello. “The vibes, the Tuscan hills, these incredible colors, weather — this year it’s been really hot and it can be quite unpredictable; we don’t mind a little bit of showers and thunderstorms — but obviously the Italian vibes are just incredible, you’re always going to have fun here.”

Wild boar encounter

A keen rider, Grnova often takes a motorcycle into the hills during race weekend. But there are hazards. On one excursion for pizza, “They warned us ‘be careful because there are wild boars in the mountains,’ and literally five minutes after leaving the restaurant, (my colleague) hit a wild boar. Luckily, he didn’t crash, but we saw the wild boar spinning and squeaking, so it was really scary.”

Di Giannantonio’s teammate, Franco Morbidelli, first came to the track as a toddler. “Actually, the first time I came here I can’t remember, because I was one, or one and half, and I was on the hills with my parents,” he tells CNN. “But definitely I remember the first time I came here as a kid with my father, enjoying Mugello and the race. But I also had the chance to come here and stay on the hills watching the racing and enjoying the environment of the hills; it was 2013 and I came here with a couple of friends (…) and it was great.”

Chainsaws and ‘rumore’

Architect Alexis Cogul traveled from Miami with his friend Manny Azeri. They’d just been in Monaco for the Formula 1 Grand Prix. Azeri was making his Mugello debut. “It lived up to all my expectations and more,” he tells CNN excitedly. “Everybody knows everybody, especially in the paddock. It’s like a big family, and the fans are just crazy.”

The craziness is visceral — a combination of pounding music, billowing smoke, crackling barbecues and revving engines. “The noise that you’re hearing is not motorcycles,” Cogul says, gesturing up to the hills. “It’s actually people with chainsaws; they take off the chain and they basically modify the motor to imitate the bikes, they stay here for the whole weekend, and they create like a party.”

Brandishing one of these infernal machines is Italian Michele Fuso, camping with friends. “You take a normal chainsaw, and you cut it here,” he says, pointing to a red box with a handle and a flared exhaust. “Then you weld something like this on,” he adds, pointing at the trumpet-like attachment. Asked why, Fuso and his friends shout in unison, “Rumore!” It’s the Italian word for noise — an end in itself around here.

Fuso fires it up. A passer-by pours pour beer into the funnel, which sprays back gold liquid, along with a puff of smoke as Fuso hoots in delight

Given Mugello’s rural location, accommodation can be hard to find for those not camping. “We’re 45 mins from the center of Florence,” Cojul says. “You normally stay in a house or a small hotel, there’s nothing fancy around here. But that’s what makes it even more fun. There’s no civilization or much around here, there’s not a big city apart from Florence.”

By Saturday night, the hilltop party reaches a crescendo: DJs on a huge stage play to thousands, fairground rides twirl against the sky amid revelers dancing, drinking and revving engines in a sea of limbs, lights and smoke.

A more genteel affair

Down in the pitlane, sophistication replaces chaos. Campinoti hosts a dinner outside the Prima Pramac Yamaha team garage. About 50 VIPs — including actor Eric Bana, former F1 driver Mark Webber, World Cup-winning soccer captain Fabio Cannavaro, and MotoGP legend Giacomo Agostini — sit at white-clothed tables as Florence-based chef Riccardo Monco serves a multicourse meal.

“We wanted to do something truly special to celebrate our home race,” Campinoti tells CNN. “We wanted our guests to feel immersed in the spirit of racing — and the pitlane felt like the perfect place. It’s where so many crucial moments of the weekend happen, so turning it into a dinner setting creates something both unique and deeply meaningful.”

Midway through the meal, a mechanic wheels out KTM rider Pedro Acosta’s bike and revs it hard, drowning out the piano-led band. The drummer playfully taps out a beat to match the roaring engine. Once again, rumore rules over all, to the amusement of the diners.

‘A rider and a bike and two wheels’

It’s easy to forget, amid the partying, that Mugello is primarily about racing, on MotoGP’s fastest track, with bikes topping 220 miles per hour in elbow-to-elbow battles for one of racing’s biggest prizes.

This year’s event drew 166,000 spectators over three days, with Keanu Reeves among the 84,625 in attendance for Sunday’s race. Ducati’s Marc Márquez took victory, much to the dismay of the Italian fans cheering for local hero, Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia. But few seemed to leave unhappy.

Which is better — Formula 1, or MotoGP? “Oh MotoGP, absolutely,” says Cogul, without hesitation. “MotoGP is all about racing, if you basically look at the race. Obviously, the danger factor in MotoGP is at another level. It’s a much more extreme sport than Formula One, which is more about statistics and characters behind the scenes.

“MotoGP is a rider and a bike and two wheels and the chances to fall or something to happen. It’s much more action-packed racing; at the end of the day, when you’re seeing that live, even the noise is louder, they’re completely raw bikes with nothing else, and that basically crawls your skin, so that’s why I recommend to see it.”

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