Roma-Napoli-Roma was raced from 1902 through 1914, 1919 through 1930, and again in 1934. There was then a 16 year gap. The 1950 Race was the post-war "inaugural" event, and was again an annual until the final race in 1961.
The 1950 race had an interesting formula...
Stage 1a was an 81 km Individual Time Trial, motorpaced behind Lambretta motor scooters (won bu Robic, from Fausto Coppi and Rik Van Steenbergen).
Stage 1b was a 145 km conventional road race (won by Serse Coppi, from Luciano Maggini and Virgilio Salimbeni).
Stage 2a was a 168 km motor-paced road race behind Lambrettas (won by Fausto Coppi,from Nedo Logli and Robic).
Finally, Stage 2b was 77 km Team Time Trial, AGAIN behind motor-paced by a Lambretta! (won by Robic's team, from Coppi's team, with Van Steenbergen's team and Louison Bobet's teams tied for third).
Must have been a noisy, fascinating event, especially if you like Lambrettas. However, it looks like they discontinued use of the motor-scooter-pacers after one year.
Aldo Ross
Blue Ball, Ohio