If the story is really true
I doubt the story is true, Google searches on any of the main characters in the tale only return you back to the same yarn. I suspect the story was created to sell an intresting piece of artwork.
I do feel sorry for the Bandini family though, they seem to have awfully bad luck 😉
This is the Parilla formula one racing iron used by the countess Maria Bandini “Mama” when she won the 1953 Italian speed ironing championship at Rome. The countess vanquished all her opponents with her tremendous, on the edge, display of blistering speed and amazing control over a track of both linen and silk, becoming a racing legend in Italy. Just imagine the sheer adrenaline buzz of witnessing a pack of these screaming machines at speed, cheered on by delirious Italian fans.
While training for the World Speed ironing championship to be held in Paris, her beloved son, Luigi was tragically killed practicing for the 1954 Milano Taranto endurance race on his experimental MV Agusta Monomoto. The Countess’ husband, count Enzo Bandini “The Falcon” forbid her to ever race again, declaring that racing was just too dangerous! A short time later, due to some rather nasty explosions during iron racing events, the Italian government outlawed the sport and ordered its citizens to turn in all internal combustion powered irons.
The Golden Age of iron racing was over. No one knows how the Contessa was able to keep her Parilla iron, but it was discovered among her effects after her death at age 103 in 2004. A family member contacted the collector Todd Fell offering him this fascinating piece of Italian racing history.
This championship machine is in its original unrestored condition, the only known survivor of the Golden Age of Iron Racing.