THE BOOKSELLER OF MONZA

A few years ago, at the Italian GP, I wrote this column for Autosport Magazine. Not much has changed since at Sgr Mario Acquati's Monza bookshop, Liberia Autodromo, but its days appear to be numbered Sgr Mario Acquati, owner of Monza's fabled Liberia Autodromo MARIO Acquati sits opposite, white-haired, time to spare, with large glasses and a crisp-ironed blue check shirt. He’s more Italian than a double espresso in Piazza San Marco over a copy of La Gazzetta dello Sport and seems infused with a spirit of the place that has shaped his existence since 1965. That place is Monza, the Milanese temple of speed that has hosted the Italian Grand Prix for the past 55 years (with only one interruption, in 1980). Myth intertwines with reality here. A sense of times past – sepia-tint images of lost years – informs every square metre of the circuit’s environs, from the largely intact old concrete banking that once tested drivers’ bravery beyond known limits, to the small memorial to marshal Paulo Ghislimberti, killed by flying debris after a second-chicane accident in the 2000 GP.Sgr Acquati has seen it all from his patch of Monza turf. He has had a shop at the track for 40 years, which, over those four decades has developed into a shrine for any fan with a feel for the romance of the sport. What started out as a tiny business selling Momo steering wheels on race weekends became a flourishing book and memorabilia store, specialising in the rare and obscure. Liberia Autodromo is a treasure trove of literary gems On any Monza grand prix weekend a steady stream of visitors can be seen to pop in, “just for a look”. Journalists are the most common breed (Autosport’s own Nigel Roebuck is one of Sgr Acquati’s most loyal customers), but sit and watch long enough and you’ll see team managers, mechanics, marketing types, PRs, even the occasional driver walking furtively from paddock gate to shop entrance to dig out some rare treasure. They might be after the newly-published biography of Jacques Laffitte, or maybe an historic Italian GP programme – the shop holds a copy of every one printed since 1922. Sgr Acquati takes one from a box in his office. It’s from 1934, fascist-era Italy, and is graced by a full-page picture of Mussolini on the inside cover. Particularly minted customers might want to enter into negotiations with Sgr Acquati over what he estimates to be his most valuable single item – a copy of the Ferrari yearbook from 1948, its first year of publication. Yours for £10,000. It’s an eye-watering fee for what’s little more than a magazine, but there are a number of Acquati loyalists who wouldn’t blink at the price. “Several of my customers are extremely wealthy collectors who have collections of Bugattis and Ferraris," he says. "They don’t worry too much about this sort of cost.” Sgr Acquati might be fully au fait these days with the numbers, but like any salesman, he had to learn the hard way about the value of his goods. Kiwi journalist and memorabilia trader Eoin Young gave the first lesson. “He came in on the first day we were open,” Mario recalls, “and he picked up a small book about Lorenzo Bandini. He asked me how much it cost. I think it was 500 Lira, you know 25 pence or something. So he asked me if he could have 20 copies – for a discount, of course! So I sold him 20 for 400 Lira. Three weeks later I was given a catalogue by a friend and I saw he had put the books on sale for £14 each!" But there’s another item he might be less keen to part with. He pulls a green hardback book from a shelf – blows off the dust – and opens it. It’s a copy of ‘12,000 Giri’ (‘12,000 Laps’) by Franco Lini – a record of the 1972 F1 season. It recounts the year team by team and driver by driver, all but a few of whom have signed their entry: Jacky Ickx, Clay Regazzoni and Mario Andretti for Ferrari; Ronnie Peterson and Niki Lauda for March… it goes on. In Marco’s hands, as he turns the pages and recounts how he went to seek out the autographs more than 30 years ago, the book becomes living history, bringing back for a moment so many of those who have died: Graham Hill, Peterson, Denny Hulme, Peter Revson, Ken Tyrrell.He snaps shut the pages and the moment’s gone, as the moment will go soon, also, for Sgr Acquati’s bookshop. Rising rents and a dwindling customer base have pushed him to call time and he will close the doors after next year’s Italian GP. He’ll continue to buy and sell on the internet but the magic of his esoteric emporium will be gone for good. “It will be very sad”, he reflects, “very sad. But young people just don’t want to read any more.” One of the many rare finds at Liberia Autodromo POST-SCRIPT Despite his predictions, Sgr Acquati has continued to ply his unique trade since I wrote this column in 2005. This year, however, really could be the last time F1's travelling circus gets to visit Liberia Autodromo. After the death of his wife, earlier this year, Mario says he no longer has sufficient desire to continue the business. If it closes, so, too, will a small, but significant, chapter of Monza history.