Diego De Sterlich Aliprandi
Diego was born as the third child of Adolfo, Marquis of Cermignano (himself born in Naples on 27 September 1849), and Anna Henrici. Both resided in Penne.
During the early years of his life, Diego experienced several family losses, including the premature deaths of three sisters. He was later adopted by his uncle, Baron Diego Aliprandi, a member of a Lombard noble family that had settled in Abruzzo in the 16th century. Following the death of all his uncle’s adopted children, Diego became the sole heir to a vast estate, comprising land and properties across several Abruzzese provinces, including Castellammare Adriatico, Spoltore, and Cermignano, as well as holdings in the regions of L’Aquila and Lazio. These included the Aliprandi Palace in Penne and multiple residences in Rome and Naples.
In 1916, Diego married Dirce Cassini. A year later, the couple had a son, Adolfo, who died in 1921. The loss of his child, followed by the death of his grandfather Adolfo, deeply affected Diego and led him into a period of personal crisis and excess.
After separating from Dirce, Diego found his greatest passion in the emerging world of motor racing between 1923 and 1930. He became highly active and successful, competing in and winning numerous races.
His generosity and lack of interest in managing his inherited wealth led him to rapidly disperse much of his fortune, ultimately establishing Diego De Sterlich as a prominent patron, developer, and racing driver in the early history of Italian motorsport.
Diego and Motor Racing
One of those figures who crossed the twentieth century at the same speed with which he challenged Nuvolari and Ferrari in the earliest years of competitive motor racing.
He was the creator of the Coppa Acerbo, the historic race held in Pescara, and of the Teramo Circuit. He was registered as a permanent patron member (no. 100) and a financial supporter of the Monza Circuit. A winner of numerous hill climb competitions, he specialized in uphill time trials, where he succeeded in defeating leading figures of the era such as his teammate Alfieri Maserati, Enzo Ferrari, Tazio Nuvolari, Baconin Borzacchini, and other champions of the time. His nicknames, “The Flying Marquis” and “The King of the Mountain,” spread wherever motor racing was entering a new era and becoming a modern spectacle.
He competed three times in the Monte Carlo Grand Prix and also raced in the Libyan Grand Prix and the Rome Circuit.
He contributed to the development of Maserati cars and raced alongside those built by Alfieri Maserati, with whom he shared a close and fraternal friendship. He established his first workshop beneath the Torre di Cerrano, a property he owned.
After an intense and adventurous life, the Marquis died in Teramo in 1976. In 2026, Maserati will celebrate the centenary of its first racing car, the Maserati 26B—driven and purchased in three versions by Marquis Diego De Sterlich Aliprandi.