Maranello

Well, I’ll be seeing alot of Maranello and Ferrari soon. Just spent a week there. My hubby just started working there a month ago. He sees a new Ferrari driving past his office every few minutes. Last month, he was introduced to M. Schumacher.

The town is quite a mess though and there isn’t much to see and do except visit the Ferrari museum and buy a few things from the Ferrari shop. I didn’t need to pay to visit (membership has its priviledges), but 12 Euros is pretty steep for such a small museum. The audiophone will cost an extra 5 Euros. I honestly prefer the Mercedes Benz museum in Stuttgart. But the Ferraris are of course wonderful (if you’re into them) and my eldest son went crazy snapping pictures of the cars. His favourite is the Enzo Ferrari. We got a pedal one for our youngest :-).

However, if you go beyond the park where there’s a monument to Ferrari (and where Ross Brown’s former house overlooks the town and park – it’s up for rent now at 5400 Euros per month), there are rolling hills that are really quite charming, I’ll try to explore them another time. We move to the region in July.

If you want to rub shoulders with the Ferrari staff, lunch or dine at the Self Service restaurant at Maranello Village (a 4-star Ferrari Service Residence). It’s cheap and the food’s decent. Otherwise in Maranello itself, the restaurant La Brace serves good pasta, meat and seafood dishes and in the evening, a few of the Ferrari people dine there too (usually very late) as quite a number of the guys live and work in Maranello in the week away from their families.

If you come to Maranello you don’t come for the women or the pizza. you come for the cars. The Ferrari. A recommendation? find a friend who works there and come over on a Ferrari open Day Weekend for a grand tour of the factory.
Also, when you do come to visit, call Lamborghini, Ducati, Bugatti, Pagani (etc…) to arrange factory tours.
I fell in love with the Zonda F even though it’s a beast…
Oh, ferrari has a small museum (Galleria Ferrari € 12 to get in) definitely worth seeing if you love cars. And if you hang out in your car round the back where the “galleria del vento” is, you might see them take out cars for test drives around the rotonda and the adjacent highway (strada provinciale). Try and keep up if you can ;)