Franz Conelli

Introduce

Francesco Conelli de’ Prosperi, known to most simply as Franz Conelli, was a man who lived at the intersection of nobility and speed—a figure of quiet charisma, born into privilege but drawn irresistibly to the pulse of engines and the thrill of competition.

The eldest son of Carlo Conelli, a Piedmontese diplomat, and Anna Bracorens de Savoiroux, Franz was born into a distinguished family from Italy’s Piemonte region. The Conellis were rooted in heritage: a grand palace in Turin, expansive estates in Sardinia, and a family lineage that included a 19th-century senator in the Kingdom of Italy. With four sisters and a younger brother—Carlo Alberto, better known as Caberto Conelli, a future racing legend—Franz stood as heir to both tradition and responsibility.

But it wasn’t courtly life or politics that called to him—it was the raw, untamed energy of motorsport. Before the First World War, Franz found his place not on land, but on water, at the helm of high-speed powerboats. He raced in the 1912 and 1913 Coupe des Nations off the coast of Monaco, commanding a Fiat-engined vessel named Sciata, built by the renowned Cantieri Taroni. With the sea as his track and the Riviera as his stage, Franz quickly earned a reputation for style and skill.

After the war, he returned to racing, this time turning to land. He competed in the 1920 Lake Garda motorboat races and then moved into automotive competition. In 1922, he achieved his most notable result by winning the Parma–Poggio di Berceto hillclimb behind the wheel of a Ballot. That same year, he claimed second place at the Gran Premio d’Autunno in Monza, just behind the legendary André Dubonnet in a Hispano-Suiza.

Alongside his brother Caberto, Franz also played a key role in supporting Italian engineering. In 1924, the Conelli brothers backed a new 1.5-litre voiturette racing car for Itala, designed by Giulio Cesare Cappa, a pioneer of early Italian automotive innovation.

By the end of 1925, Franz quietly stepped away from racing, shifting focus to manage the family’s substantial properties. Though his time in the sport was brief, his impact was lasting—a nobleman who followed speed, not ceremony, and left behind a legacy of elegance, courage, and a life lived just ahead of the curve.