The main Italian newspaper of Italian Somaliland, Il Littoriale, reported that the first car race circuit of Mogadiscio was held in mid-August 1938. On August 15, 1938, Francesco Saveno, Governor of Italian Somaliland, flagged the start of the first car race, watched by many thousands of people, in the Corso Vittorio Emanuele in the capital of Italian Somaliland, where the main viewing stands were located. Thousands of Somalis lined the streets of Mogadiscio to watch the first car race in their country. It was then followed by a motorcycle race, involving 250 cc and 350 cc categories, which was won respectively by Girotto on Benelli and by Pontiggia on Guzzi. The car race was similar to those in other Italian colonies: the Circuito Asmara in Italian Eritrea and the world-famous Tripoli Grand Prix in Italian Libya. The Circuito di Mogadiscio was repeated again in 1939, but the race of 1940 was cancelled because of the outbreak of the Second World War. The most important category was dominated by the Alfa Romeo 1750, a race car built under Enzo Ferrari's supervision that won in many other circuits. According to Gianluca Gabrielli, there were 7 stands, and the magazine/newspaper Corriere della Somalia reported that in 1938 more than 10,000 spectators enjoyed the two sets of races Those race cars were also promoted by the Italian government to increasethe prestige of the Italian Empire, both within the colonies themselves and throughout the wider world; the cars were to show the Kingdom of Italy as a technologically advanced country with a state-of-the-art mechanical industry. Indeed, Italian-ruled Mogadiscio in 1938 was the second manufacturing city - after Asmara - in Italian East Africa. The triangle Mogadiscio-Genale-Villabruzzi was the most developed area of the Italian colony, with one of the biggest vehicle concentrations of all Africa: nearly 3,000 vehicles in 1939.
After the Second World War, the Circuito Mogadiscio was run only with motorcycles and was called Gran Premio Motociclistico della Somalia. It was held annually from 1950 until 1954, during the Italian Trusteeship of Somalia. The race was run on the coastal streets of Mogadiscio, near the port and on Lungomare Corni, and was more than one mile long. Attilio Di Nunzio won the 500cc category from 1950 to 1952 with his self-improved Guzzi.
