Visiting The Ferrari Museum, Maranello

For car enthusiasts, a trip to the Ferrari Museum in Northern Italy is a must. Around 25 minutes drive from Modena and one hour from Bologna, the town of Maranello has been the home of Ferrari’s factory since the 1940s when founder Enzo Ferrari moved operations there from Modena after the factory was bombed during World War II.

Before we got to the museum, we drove past the gigantic Ferrari headquarters which houses the Ferrari factory with its test race track nearby. We could hear the sound of burning rubber on the circuit as we pulled up to the car park opposite the Ferrari Museum.

It is possible to go on a shuttle bus tour of the factory and race track but you are restricted to staying on the bus. In-depth tours are reserved for Ferrari owners only – by appointment! As we are not yet Ferrari owners (maybe one day, ay), we were happy to just visit the Ferrari Museum. Promising our daughter we would be seeing Lightening McQueen (from Pixar’s Cars), she shared in our enthusiasm for at least ten minutes of us getting there.

It waned quite swiftly after viewing the first few cars so we whizzed through it rather quicker than I would have liked but even with a restless three year old, we were able to absorb the impressive history and workmanship of the famous sports car brand.

So without further ado, here’s a glimpse at some of the cars we saw (that’s what you want to see, right?).

The exhibition began with a range of Ferrari’s significant rally and Forumla 1 cars throughout the ages including this very strange-looking F1 car from 1981 (the Ferrari 126C) which Gilles Villeneuve drove. It was fascinating to see how they have developed over the years.

This is Michael Schumacher’s 1998 F300 car which helped him get second place in the World Championship behind Mika Hakkinen.

In the photo below, Mrs T poses by the vehicle British driver Mike Hawthorn drove to won the 1958 World Championship. Despite him being the UK’s first F1 world champion, I didn’t know much about Hawthorn but after doing a bit of research found a very sad story. Despite winning the championship in 1958 he retired from racing after being affected by the death of his fellow driver and friend Peter Collins two months before. Hawthorn then died in a road accident six months later. He was suffering from a serious kidney illness at the time. He was only 29. Tragic.

The Ferrari Museum also had a hall of fame paying tribute to all the cars and drivers who had won World Championships with Ferrari.

It was poignant seeing the achievements and images of Michael Schumacher. I paused for a quiet moment in respect for the great driver who has been seriously ill since a skiing accident in December 2013.

The Ferrari Museum isn’t just about its racing accomplishments though, it had road cars from almost every era. I rather liked this 1960s number.

Despite Ferrari’s trademark red cars, Mrs T insisted she preferred the yellow ones!

Although you can tell this was taken when she had begun to lose interest…

One of my favourite sections was the custom-made cars. A room full of speed, luxury and excess. This was my favourite.

And the hubby quite fancied this one…

This pimped up car was commissioned by long-time Ferrari client, Eric Clapton. Look at the windows…even the front screen was  blacked out.

There is also a F1 simulator you can experience, a pit stop challenge and you can have your photo taken in an F1 car too – but they are all extra.  We eventually gave into our daughter’s demands and headed to the cafe – a pleasant space selling panini’s, snacks, coffees and beers.

Then there was the obligatory walk through the souvenir shop which sold everything from t-shirts and Ferrari branded iPad covers to a rather large children’s section where you could get baby grows, bomber jackets and even Ferrari dummies!

I was quite keen to get this Ferrari scooter for Mrs T – come on – how cool is that?

But in the end we went for a remote controlled Ferrari which at 25€ wasn’t too extortionate (and might get more use than clothing). She has really enjoyed playing with it but possibly not as much as her father!

Need To Know

– The Ferrari Museum is open daily from 9.30am – 7pm during the summer months until 6pm in the winter.
– It costs 13€ to visit and tickets are available on the day. We arrived around 11am in early April and there was no queue.
– You can buy combination tickets for some of the other Ferrari sights – all information on the website
– A shuttle bus runs between the Ferrari Museum in Maranello and the Enzo Ferrari Museum in Modena. There is also a bus from Modena train station to the museum (12€).

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