Some time ago my wife Faith and I were researching a vacation to Europe and looking for interesting things to do. We wanted to have a well-rounded trip, do many different things, and to make the most of the time spent there. Getting to Europe from Australia is costly and takes a long time so we need to stay for a reasonable period and have a few things planned; We didn't want to wander about aimlessly as we can stay home and do that, and save thousands of dollars in the process.
So we found a few really interesting things to do. Loire Valley, France, Florence, a five day tour in the World War One battlefields of France and Belgium, Paris, Rome, Cinque Terra, Venice and so on. I also wanted to tour the Ferrari, Lamborghini and Ducati factories and museums.
We made contact with a gentleman who ran private tours for groups of only 2-6 people and after some communications were satisfied that he would give us the best experience; His name was Francesco (not his real name) and in every communication he had exceeded our expectations so...We booked it.
We were based at a nice hotel in Bologna and on the day of our tour he collected us early in the morning in a spotless VW passenger van. He greeted us with "Ciao, come stai", hello how are you, and I stumbled through some Italian out of respect...Then we proceeded in English. He seemed a cheery little chap and super-friendly.
We were off to visit Lamborghini, Ferrari and then Ducati and were really pleased to see it was just us, no other people! You bloody ripper!
Curiously he asked if I had my drivers license as he drove away and nodded when I said yes. "Bene, bene" he said.
As it turns out, only the week earlier, Lamborghini had halted production and access to the production line was denied. I was devastated. We were set to tour the production line and I was pretty keen on it; As it was we could not.
He had arranged some alternatives though which included a visit to the Collezione Umberto Panini a mind-blowing private car collection located on a dairy farm called Hombre and a chance for us to drive the Ferrari of my choice around Maranello for 45 minutes. It was that or I could get some Euro's back. I said keep the Euro's mate, and let's roll!
We were still able to go to the Lamborghini museum, which was amazing in its own right, and then headed to the Collezione Umberto Panini...It's very cool - A dairy where they also make parmesan cheese, the only place the Vatican buy parmesan from as it turns out. It was an awesome place to visit...But Lamborghini and Hombre are for another time.
From there it was onwards to Fiorano, Ferrari's test track, where we watched some Ferrari's going through their paces and the factory and the museum.
Fiorano, the Ferrari test track.
Old school Ferrari-powered race car Lancia-Ferrari D50 or D50A - Can't recall which.
Maranello is truly Ferrari country and everything there revolves around the vehicle, factory, race team, Scuderia Ferrari, and the love of Ferrari. Yep, there's Ferrari's everywhere, quite literally.
We headed to the factory for a poke around and as we met various people Francesco was surreptitiously handing out bottles of wines and a cheese here or there all of which seemed to materialise out of nowhere. You see, he used to work for the Scuderia, the guy who made Michael Schumacher's steering wheels for his F1 car, so he knew people. It's amazing the access one can gain when a few bottles of wine change hands.
No, you cannot buy it Faith!
From there we headed over to the museum for a bite to eat and to begin our tour.
Francesco ate with us; He was a very cool little guy who spoke good English and had a huge knowledge of his tour and Ferrari in particular. We chatted about all sorts of things...Well, only one thing really, Ferrari, and then headed into the Ferrari museum itself.
Unfortunately my camera at the time and my photography skills weren't the best but I grabbed some shots which you can see in this post.
The Formula One Scuderia Ferrari section which included many F1 cars, pit-wall rigs and various equipment and a sample of every F1 engine they've made. Faith talks to Francesco in this shot.
The Ferrari museum tells their story in pictures, video, simulators and of course the real life cars of which they have so many. The information boards are in Italian so that's where Francesco earned his keep and he worked hard to ensure we had the full picture, the information about what was of interest to us, and he also enlightened us on some of the more interesting facts we might have missed otherwise. He was solicitous to our needs and yet left us to our own devices too; He was, in short, a great tour guide.
We spent over two hours at the museum and saw the evolution of Ferrari from humble beginnings to the powerhouse vehicle manufacturer and race team it is today; We even saw a replica set up of Enzo Ferrari's office exactly the way he left it before he passed away.
Enzo Ferrari at various stages of his life. This was a massive wall of Enzo!
The Ferrari story is fascinating; One man's never-quit attitude, innovation, triumph over adversity and singlemindedness. What he created is nothing short of mind-blowing, as is everything around it. The museum was spectacular in design, layout and presentation and needs to be on the list of places to visit for all car enthusiasts.
Ferrari 458 - We were in Maranello in the launch-week.
After the museum it was time to drive my Ferrari. I chose the F430 Spider and drove around Maranello for about 45 minutes - It sounded and drove exactly like you would expect and was an enjoyable experience. I was still disappointed about not touring the production areas at Lamborghini but this was cool too. Yes, I went fast!
Just rollin', Maranello-style. They see me rollin' - They hatin'. 😁
From there it was off to Ducati and more awesome experiences which I'll write about some other time as this is a Ferrari post!
Our experience that day was so amazing and memorable; It's stuck with us and we remember it vividly. It's difficult to pick out a highlight although I'll be honest, the Collezione Umberto Panini would probably win that accolade. It was truly spectacular and considering we had it to ourselves...Priceless. Not many people see it, most don't even know it exists; Add in the tour of the dairy and cheese-making facility...It was cool.
That night back in Bologna we had a nice dinner and recapped onthe day which started at 8am and went until 6:30pm...A long day but such an amazing one!
This was my favourite in the museum. The 1960 Ferrari 400 Superamerica. Simply stunning in real life.
Anyway, I'll probably write about that some other time. For now I hope you enjoyed this piece on this aspect of one of our European holidays; It didn't go exactly to plan but was a great day nonetheless. Oh, Bologna is cool too, I'll do a thing on it sometime also.
Thanks for dropping in.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.
Be well
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