Travel series: Ferrari-Land

Small towns usually leave big impressions, this case is no different.

Maranello, Italia
Maranello is a small city situated near Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, the city is very small with under 20,000 habitants, but its home to something big. A car company some may have heard of… Ferrari.

I remember when studying marketing in a post grad course I took, during the introductory class our teacher asked us to briefly define marketing. He proceeded to asking some students individually on what they thought marketing was one by one to later responding with only an “Ok”. He then went on with a small exercise, asking us “What’s the first car brand that comes to your mind??” More than half of the class responded “Ferrari”. Interestingly enough the question made no specific reference as to quality, prestige, or any other characteristic someone may relate a brand too. He then went on to say “Class, that is marketing!”.. He continued on explaining technicalities about brand positioning and other key points needed for a strong approach marketing wise that may bore many. Either way, that stuck with me till this day and visiting this city did nothing more than reinforce my previous stance for this remarkable company.

The prancing horse

Getting there through public transport is rather annoying but not impossible. As soon as you arrive you begin seeing tons of stores with Ferrari memorabilia and a few exotic car rental locations, all displaying their vehicles in plain sight so you can drool from a far enough distance to not have it land on the car’s hood. If you do decide on taking public transport and have to walk a few blocks prepare yourself to get blitzed by PR people attempting to sell you things and offer you all kinds of services. Me and my buddy decided on giving everyone a solid NO until we got a feel for the area and of course, visiting the museum and all official Ferrari installations.

Thus the (official) journey began! Into the vast museum we went, beginning with some models of the Scuderia’s first race cars and other formula 1 vehicles. We later moved on to the next area to see more up to date Scuderia vehicles and motors along with other components they had on display. Eager to see the cars I grew up dreaming about and playing videos games with, we moved on to the next showroom.

A hall or mini labyrinth made of drywall separated both showrooms. Images where hung of different models and also a clay mock up of the founder himself Enzo Ferrari, in a replicated office where there to see.

Not wasting to much time we moved on through the “mini labyrinth” to stumble to our surprise on an Ferrari Enzo! This was the car I was almost certain wouldn’t be there considering they only made 400 models. But there it was! A beauty unmatched to any other car I’ve ever seen in person.

From there we entered a special showroom with all the trophies and memorabilia of Ferrari pilots including the Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio, a historic sportsman from my home country, along with replica F1 championship cars. One more jaw dropping room, which is actually very well played given seconds ago we were in the presence of an Enzo. Afterwards is the last showroom where there are tons more models on display.

F1's that won championships

Juan Manuel Fangio

The one & only Schumacher

At the beginning of the tour your given the option to visit the factory in a trolley cart where they give you a peak of the assembly process and some installations. Though lots of it was off limits due to classified company projects it still topped any emotion for example, a visit to Willy’s chocolate factory can provide. At least to any car buff like myself.
After visiting the factory and overdosing on the amount of Ferraris you should normally see in a few hours we went on to renting one for an hour. Yes we did, and for 60 euro how can you leave Maranello without having the driving experience. This was most definitely the best part. I mentioned Maranello was a small city, remember? Well, not only is it small and remote but it’s close to a highway. With that being said, I’ll let you do the math.
Fast car + remote city + highway x not your car… What does that equal?
Now, if you used your scientific calculator then I’m sure you & I got the same answer.

2012 Ferrari California

There were literally no fucks given for that 1 hour we rented that Ferrari California. Apart from all the fun & excitement, I must say you don’t drive a Ferrari like any other car and for any avid driver it does take a bit getting used to. I consider myself a pretty good driver and have driven all types of vehicles, motorcycles etc and with every standard transmission. The cars I’ve owned have always been manual. I tested it out in the 3 separate modes it offers but still didn’t feel entirely comfortable with my handling for the car after everything was said and done. Now it’s an amazing piece of work that I recommend anyone to drive if the opportunity presents itself, but keep in mind that it’s not as simple as it looks.

If you’re ever cruising around Italy, make a quick pit stop here. Great way to spend a day and you will not regret it.

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Maranello Model Ferrari, for all who gre up playing Need for Speed High stakes on PS1"