Circuito Tazio Nuvolari: the family track built on gravel from the Po

Annibale Traversa, born in 1899, started out as a carter: he hauled gravel from the bends of the Po to building sites around Pavia. That work grew into a haulage company in 1951 and, in 1972, into the firm Traversa Calcestruzzi e Strade, by then run together with his sons Renato, Sergio and Vincenzo. A hundred years after the family business was born, Vincenzo's son Giorgio Traversa decided to mark the anniversary with a racing circuit in Cervesina, on the plain right by the Po. Circuito Tazio Nuvolari opened in 2013 as a loop about 2.8 km long. Today it measures 5260 m, and the operator presents it as the second-longest circuit in Italy.

Location	Cervesina, province of Pavia, Lombardy; Strada Provinciale 12 per Corana, on the plain by the Po, about 70 km from Milan
Type	permanent racing circuit for cars and motorcycles with facilities for vehicle testing and homologation
Length	5260 m (full loop); original 2013 loop 2805 m
Configurations	homologated by ACI Sport: 5260, 4675, 4667, 4152, 2804 and 2453 m; the 2805 m and 2454 m loops can run at the same time, with separate entrances, paddocks and pit garages
Longest straight	970 m on the full loop; 720 m on the original one
Homologations	ACI Sport: national grade 2; FMI: speed racing, grade A, level 2
Construction	from June 2011; extension from 2020, described as completed in October 2023
Originator	Giorgio Traversa, in 2016–2020 also described as the owner
Operator	Nuvolari 5260 Srl, based in Milan; in 2024 Coger s.r.l.
Main events	CIV Junior (2023), National Trophy final (2024), Nivola Rally Show (2026), FMI regional speed championships
Status	active; open-track driving every Wednesday

A pond where the quarry was

The land under the track has a history of its own. A text from the magazine “Italia Più” of September 2013, which the operator reprinted on its website, says that this plot first held a small lake with a gravel pit, and then a pond for anglers. Traversa himself spoke about it matter-of-factly. “We had this land to make use of, and the idea of a track seemed the most sensible one to us,” he explained to “La Provincia Pavese”, and the portal Moto.it, which quoted these words, also gave the amount invested: 6 million euros. In 2016 he told a reporter from “Panorama”: “Its birth was a bit paradoxical, because I am first and foremost an off-road enthusiast.”

Construction began in June 2011 on an area of 260,000 m², and the road and building works were carried out by the family firm. Michele Orione, who from 2018 was responsible for communications at the track, told “La Gazzetta dello Sport” that Traversa was thereby fulfilling a childhood dream of having his own track, and that he entrusted the layout design to the engineer Adamo Leonzio, known in Italian motorsport for his part in designing several circuits. The venue's first website, from 2012, listed its strengths: a parallel road with a flyover by which ambulances were to reach any point of the track, a medical centre with a helicopter landing pad, two large tanks with oil separators from which rainwater running off the asphalt was to be reused for irrigation and for wet-surface testing, and noise barriers of reinforced earth, partly already sown with greenery.

The patron was chosen out of fondness. Traversa was an admirer of Tazio Nuvolari. He obtained the right to the name of the driver from Mantua, as he said, under an agreement with Automobile Club Mantova, which owns the mark, including the famous tortoise from Gabriele D'Annunzio, bearing a dedication to “the fastest man” from “the slowest animal”. Today's operator adds a reason closer to the track itself: Nuvolari was first a motorcycle racer, then a car driver, and he won in both disciplines, and in Cervesina both kinds of vehicle run.

The last tyre wall

“La Provincia Pavese” described the first official presentation of the track in its issue of 24 October 2013. Part of the work was still going on, but testing was already taking place on the track, and races were announced for the spring. General manager Matteo Campanini said that the motorcycling federation had issued a positive opinion for all disciplines up to Superbike, and the car federation CSAI for categories up to GP2. Among the guests was Arturo Merzario, a driver who in the 1970s made it to the Ferrari team and now ran a track-driving school, Merzario Academy; the newspaper described him as one of the main supporters of Traversa's project.

“Although the work is not finished yet, I can already see what the track will look like once the last tyre wall is in place. It is an ambitious project, especially in times as difficult as these, but I am convinced that in the end this venue will carve out a place for itself in the front rank in the country.”

Mauro Pane, a historic Formula 1 world champion who took part in filming Rush, brought along that day, among other cars, a 1978 Brabham with an Alfa Romeo engine. The car stayed in the pit garage because the weather did not allow it out.

The original loop was 2805 m long, with eleven corners, five left and six right, 12 to 13 m wide, and with a main straight 720 m long. Orione warned against first impressions: the track “looks like a big kart track, but that is an illusion”, because corners that look alike each have to be taken differently. The “Panorama” reporter, who came here in spring 2016 for a motorcycle track day, wrote that an experienced rider on a litre bike reaches 270 km/h on this straight. In the paddock he noticed old buses and motorway toll booths from the 1980s and 1990s.

For its first years Cervesina was above all a testing track. In 2020 “La Gazzetta dello Sport” wrote of six years of apprenticeship in that role and noted that few races had been held here so far, and minor ones at that. Orione stressed that the track had become the first choice of the teams in the area for tests and shakedowns, that is, the first runs after a car has been assembled, and that track days and private events were held alongside them. In 2015 the Officine Alfieri Maserati International club celebrated the brand's centenary here, and the cars that took to the track included a 1931 Maserati V5. In June 2018 instructors from the Di.Di. association, founded by the driver Emiliano Malagoli, taught about twenty young people with amputations and paraplegia to ride motorcycles here; all the instructors were also people with disabilities. The following weekend was set for the second round of the Octo Bridgestone Cup, the Italian motorcycle championship for riders with disabilities in the 600 and 1000 classes.

The local press also reported an accident on 10 March 2019. During the “500day” gathering, a car with a 27-year-old driver and a 23-year-old passenger hit a low wall of the track. The driver, in the more serious condition, was stabilised on site and flown by helicopter to San Gerardo hospital in Monza, and the passenger was taken by ambulance to hospital in Pavia.

Cobbles for carmakers

The track also began to serve something other than driving in circles. In January 2020 “La Provincia Pavese” described a two-week international event that Audi Italia and Audi Sport organised in Cervesina for more than a thousand guests from Australia, the United States, Japan, China, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Europe. They drove the RS4, RS6 and R8, among others, under the eye of test drivers, and the RSQ8 SUV had its Italian preview here. The same newspaper announced road sections with different surfaces, from asphalt to pavé, on which manufacturers would homologate new models.

Today this part operates under the name Nuvolari 5260 Proving Ground. According to the operator it has five complexes on more than 569,000 m², among them 200 m of undulating cobbles, tiles with a friction coefficient of 0.2, ABS test tracks with sprinklers and water walls, and a surface compliant with ISO 10844, that is, one intended for vehicle noise measurements. The operator highlights its cooperation with Politecnico di Milano, whose teams tested prototypes here that then competed in the world championships of their categories; the vehicles are now kept in the Paddock Club area. In 2022 the track was the set for a nationwide Renault Italia commercial. On one of the test sections lie 160 m of river cobbles. The Traversa family firm started out by hauling gravel from the bends of the Po.

Fifteen metres longer than Mugello

Extending the track had been planned for a long time. The “Panorama” reporter had already heard in 2016 of an extension to more than 4 km, though no one disclosed any dates. In June 2017 the mayor of Cervesina, Taramaschi, told the website vogheranews.it that the project had been submitted to the municipality, would be paid for by a private investor, would also take in the municipality of Corana and could be ready in two years. Work, however, only began in 2020: on 9 March “La Provincia Pavese” wrote that it had been under way for a few days. Orione then hoped that the first cars would run on the new loop at the end of the summer, and he did not expect events before 2021. He also stressed that Traversa was running the project personally, “without any outside support whatsoever”.

Orione revealed the target to “La Gazzetta dello Sport”: 5251 m, to overtake Mugello and become the second-longest track in Italy. The old corners were to stay; only from the last one would the route turn left, instead of returning to the finish line, into a fast section with two straights nearly a kilometre long, three fast corners and six slow ones. At the end of April 2020 Automoto.it reported that the work had been halted by the coronavirus pandemic and was just about to restart, and that the track was to be ready for the 2021 season.

The deadline slipped by years. In August 2023 amotomio.it wrote that the new section was ready and that the process of obtaining homologations was beginning. In October Corsedimoto.com reported the work completed: 2454 m had been added, the full loop measured 5260 m and its longest straight 970 m; the track was now waiting only for homologations. In spring 2024 the operator's website described the 5260 m loop, which could be split into two independent tracks, 2805 m and about 2.45 km, and in June it carried a notice of open-track sessions on this loop. In September the Ticino section of the Swiss Automobile Club Svizzero held its track day on the long layout; according to Touring Club Schweiz it was chosen at the participants' request. Mugello gives 5245 m on its website, fifteen metres less.

The company changed too. As late as 2024 the website footer named Coger s.r.l.; today the track is run by Nuvolari 5260 Srl, based in Milan, and the track's general manager is Giulia Brignoli. The operator lists what has grown up around the asphalt: the former Lombard farmhouse Cascina Belvedere in the middle of the track, renovated in 2018, the Paddock Club with 17 pit garages completed in March 2024, a bar in a carriage of the Swiss-German railways, a meeting room in a historic “Milano” tram and grandstands with more than 600 seats.

A final without the leader

In August 2023 Cervesina hosted the fifth, penultimate round of CIV Junior, the Italian youth motorcycle championship, for which more than a hundred riders in five categories were announced; in MiniGP the prize at stake was qualification for the world final in Valencia. In autumn 2024 the season of the National Trophy, the races organised by Moto Club Spoleto, closed here. The final was scheduled for 12 and 13 October. A few weeks earlier, 32-year-old Milanese rider Luca Salvadori, who had won the first four races of the season in the 1000 class and was leading the standings, was killed in a crash during a race at the Frohburg circuit in Germany. His main rival Filippo Rovelli and the Pistard Racing Team announced that they would not start in the last two rounds, at Imola and in Cervesina, so that the title would stay with Salvadori. The team boss, Gianluca Galesi, explained it like this:

“The only way we can say goodbye to him is not to take part in the last two races, so that Luca can celebrate and win the title he always wanted.”

The organiser permanently retired the number 23 that Salvadori raced with, and the 1000-class title went to him posthumously. According to “Motosprint”, the National Trophy season ended in Cervesina. The track also comes back in the calendar of the regional speed championships: according to the motorcycling federation FMI, at the end of September 2026 the fifth round of the CRV took place on the 2.8 km loop, together with a memorial lap for Nino Di Gangi and a new cup for amateurs, the Performance Cup. The last round of the 2026 season of the European KlassGP series for two-stroke 125-class prototypes was also held here. For 14 and 15 February 2026 ACI Sport announced the debut of a rally on the circuit in Cervesina: the Nivola Rally Show, the first round of the Circuit Rally Trophy, with five special stages totalling 66 km on the 5.2-kilometre loop and 26 crews, including four Citroën C3 WRC+ cars.

Wednesdays in Cervesina

For an amateur driver, the simplest way onto the track leads through the operator itself: every Wednesday Cervesina is open for open-track driving. Cars run in 25-minute sessions, alternating between road, GT and racing cars and open-wheel formula cars and prototypes, depending on the date on the classic 2805 m loop or on the full 5260 m one. At the beginning of October 2026 the operator's shop required buying at least two sessions online at 105 euros each including 22% VAT; further ones cost 115 euros on site, and a day went ahead with at least ten paying cars. A driving licence and an identity document are required, as are a homologated helmet (there is no rental on site), a tow hook and a signed waiver of claims. A racing licence is “strongly recommended”, and a car louder than 105 dB when measured will not be allowed onto the track. An adult passenger pays 15 euros per session; underage passengers are not accepted at all.

The track is also hired by outside organisers. Track4fun.com announced for 11 October 2026 six hours of open pit lane (that is, going out on track at any time) for road and racing cars of any make on the 5260 m loop, for 200–500 euros including VAT, with a 105 dB limit and slicks allowed. The German Pistenclub offered a day on 10 October from 490 euros, but for legal reasons only registered club members may drive at its events in Italy. The Swiss come too: the track day of the Ticino section of the ACS club in September 2024 cost from 390 to 490 francs, depending on membership.

For 1 March 2026 the Automotoclub Storico Italiano scheduled ASI in Pista Spring Experience in Cervesina, a track day for historic cars built up to 2005 and competition cars up to 1995. About a hundred cars were on the list. The oldest was a 1948 sports car, home-built on a Fiat 500 Topolino chassis, and the youngest a 2005 Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. Admission for spectators was free.