11:50 pm, October 10, 2011
WE’RE here finally in Maranello, the home of Ferrari, and it couldn’t have been easier.
You’ll have already have seen in Baggott’s blog that we have experienced what Bangers4BEN is all about. Rob Brendon and Wags Firmin offered us the unblemished and brand-new looking rear seats of their surprisingly luxurious Hyundai XG30 so we could complete the leg to get to the famous Italian town.
And what a ride it was. The last few hundred miles saw us tackling foggy France’s motorways, but as we burst out of the Mont Blanc tunnel scorching hot Italy welcomed us.
The big Hyundai – scorned when new for being a cheap look-alike to a Rolls Royce – was a comfortable place to be, and in the hands of Brendon and Firmin we covered the 400-odd miles in complete ease.
We’ve strung our way down from the Alps through the lowlands of Italy – which look exactly as they do on the Olivio TV adverts – into the manufacturing region in which Maranello sits.
Huddled among petrol stations and other industrial buildings, the Ferrari factory with its Fiorano test track in toe sits in keeping with its surroundings. There’s nothing too fancy about the way it looks from the back as it is simply a car factory that happens to build cars as expressive as Ferraris.
We’re spending the night opposite the factory’s gates in the Maranello Palace. Despite the questionable name it is the place used by Ferrari to put up their sponsors’ guests. So there’s plenty of Ferrari memorabilia and tricketry around to match the sound of Ferraris blasting along on the road outside for just ‘another’ spin.
What we’re experiencing are the real and the unreal Ferrari. The proper, manufacturing side and the symptoms of that – the marketing and the whole ‘Ferrari thing’ that surrounds it. It’s a curious disagreement that only Ferrari has.
In terms of experiences tonight’s was the passionate one for we ate at the Ristorante Cavallino. It’s THE place for Ferrari fans as it sits opposite the factory’s front entrance, and it’s believed to be the place where Enzo Ferrari had his own room and at lunch there everyday.
The place is littered with bits of Ferrari Formula One cars, helmets, trophies, engines and such like. Combined with really rather amazing food and wine the passion for doing things well shone through.
Tomorrow we’ll be dropping in to the Galleria Ferrari for the history experience. Check back soon.
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