The Targa Florio went through 61 editions practically without interruption (with the exception of the years of the two world wars), from 1906 to 1977.
The Sicilian roads have always been the scene of the race, in particular those that run through the Madonie mountain range: only on a few occasions the race was combined with the Giro di Sicilia and took place along the circumnavigation of the island while in the four-year period 1937-1940 she emigrated to the Parco della Favorita in Palermo. In 1955 and in the years from 1958 to 1973, the Targa Florio was among the races held for the purposes of the International or World Championships reserved for Sports or Gran Turismo cars.
After the 1973 edition, marked by a numerous series of fairly serious accidents which showed that the Madonie circuit was not suited to hosting competitions for very powerful cars, the Targa Florio was excluded from the round of the great international tests. The race still had three editions and, in 1977, as happened for the Mille Miglia twenty years earlier, even in the case of the Sicilian test the end was determined by a serious accident: during the 61 / th edition, Sunday 15 May 1977, the Osella-BMW driven by Gabriele Ciuti, went off the road in a mixed-speed stretch that followed the Buonfornello straight, overwhelming the spectators and causing two deaths and three injuries.
At that point, the Targa Florio ran out of cycle: starting from 1978 the race was transformed into a Rally and called Rally Targa Florio.
The roads of Sicily were the scene of the Targa Florio combined with the Giro di Sicilia in the years from 1912 to 1914 and from 1948 to 1950, for a total of 6 editions, all with itineraries exceeding a thousand kilometers.
In the three-year period 1912-1914 the route wound from Palermo and, proceeding clockwise, reached Cefalù, Messina, Catania, Syracuse, Noto, Vittoria, Girgenti, Castelvetrano, Mazara, Marsala, Trapani and then returned to Palermo. In the three-year period 1948-1950 the itinerary (counterclockwise) was instead: Palermo, Trapani, Marsala, Castelvetrano, Sciacca, Agrigento, Caltanissetta, Enna, Gela, Ragusa, Noto, Syracuse, Catania, Messina, Cefalù and return to Palermo. Furthermore, on two occasions the Giro di Sicilia was split into two stages, in 1913 (first leg Palermo-Girgenti, second leg Girgenti-Palermo) and in 1914 (first leg Palermo-Syracuse, second leg Syracuse-Palermo). In the following years the Giro di Sicilia, no longer combined with the Targa Florio, will continue to be disputed.