Let’s step on the gas! Engines are roaring in Italy!

M – Good morning, and welcome to our 5th appointment with Curious about Italy?
I am Marcello from VITOR ITALY. VITOR ITALY is an Italian Tour Operator specialised in Tours in Italy. Patrizia is here with me, and also today, we will tell you something truly unique and exciting about our country.
P – Ok, Marcello. Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines; that’s how they say
M – That’s right, Patrizia, today is a full-throttle episode! We’ll talk about red Ferrari and more.
P – Wow, I’m already waving flags on the side of the track! So, where do we go today?
M- Today, we are going to Emilia, to the provinces of Modena and Bologna, to the territory that we Italians, with words in English, call “the Motor Valley”.
P – Of course! The Motor Valley is where important car brands such as Ferrari, Maserati, and Lamborghini and motorcycles such as Ducati were born.
M – Yes, they are all based there, along with all their suppliers, research centres, circuits, mechanical workshops… all concentrated in a small area of about a hundred square kilometres.
Let’s start with Ferrari, the great national pride, the “Red National Team”, as we call it. National because, as in football, there is no Italian who does not support Ferrari, and when Ferrari wins, we all rejoice.
Ferrari takes its name from its founder, Enzo Ferrari.
Enzo Ferrari lived in the province of Modena, and he was “a country boy”. Modena has become the land of motors we know today because it was, and still is, a land of farmers. The first engines that the mechanical workshops of Emilia repaired and maintained were tractors, harvesters, mowers, and motorised vehicles of various kinds. Workshops with capable mechanics, so the first cars came, and then the first car races did the rest.
Ferrari’s father was the owner of a mechanical workshop. When he was 10, his father took him to Bologna, where little Enzo saw his first car race. And on that occasion, he was so impressed by the race that he decided to become a pilot.
Ferrari started as a test driver and pilot for Alfa Romeo and had an exclusivity agreement with them, so he could not use the Ferrari name to compete. He could do it only in 1947, 2 years after the end of the war, and the name was “Scuderia Ferrari”. In the beginning, his workshop produced and marketed sports cars to finance the participation of the “Ferrari team” in competitions such as Formula 1, the Mille Miglia and other important races.
The first victory in the Formula 1 Campionship came in 1951, at the British Grand Prix. The first world title in 1952 with Alberto Ascari. In its long 90-year life, Enzo will see its Ferrari win 9 Drivers’ World Championships and 8 Constructors’ World Championships.
Quite an achievement for the “country boy” Enzo Ferrari. The Mechanical Engineer Enzo Ferrari, a title ad honorem that was conferred on him by the University of Bologna in 1960 he was particularly proud of it, because he felt he had crowned the dream of his father, who wanted him to be an engineer. But, for all Italians, Ferrari is the “Drake”. This nickname was given to him by his English rivals after the Second World War, referring to the pirate Francis Drake, with a mixture of criticism and admiration for Ferrari’s ability to achieve high-level results.
Ferrari’s life was not only joys and successes. He lost his father and brother prematurely, lived through two world wars and also lost his son Dino; he dedicated a car to him, the “Dino Ferrari”. But the “Drake” never life get him down.
P – An intense life full of sorrows but also of many joys. Marcello, I have a curiosity. How did the symbol of Ferrari, “the little prancing horse”, come about?
M – Sure Patrizia, “il Cavallino Rampante”….. The Legend says it was the mother of Francesco Baracca, the famous Italian aviation ace, the flying hero of the First World War, who had a prancing horse as his emblem. The old Lady met Enzo and handed over a photograph of his son with a dedication, and she said: “Ferrari, put my son’s prancing horse on your cars. It will bring you good luck.” Well, it was a very good advice indeed.
Ferrari even gave his name to a color: Ferrari Red. “Give a child a piece of paper and tell him to draw a car. Surely he will draw it red,” Ferrari said one day. Red embodied passion and aggressiveness, and the colour always stood out among the other cars, giving his cars a sense of superiority.
The combination of unique stylistic elements and the frantic search for technical perfection, have led to worldwide success. But still, Ferrari is very popular among people who surely cannot afford to buy one of its cars, and this is mainly due to the fascination of us Italians for this courageous, strong, passionate man, a true Italian. We are all Ferrari fans because we all love Enzo Ferrari, even those who, like me, just saw him in videos.
P – What a crazy life. A compelling story. But as you said, the Motor Valley is also famous for other “speed brands”.
M – One of the traditional adversaries of Scuderia Ferrari was Maserati, the historic car manufacturer with the “trident” logo. Once again, we have a boy of humble origins with an unbridled passion for mechanics and racing.
The Maserati mechanical workshop was founded by Alfieri Maserati in 1914; this year it will be 110 years. Between ups and downs, changes of ownership and financial crises, Maserati, which is still a symbol of elegance and speed, is still a dream for many luxury sports car fans.
But the most incredible and fascinating story is that of Lamborghini and its founder, Ferruccio Lamborghini.
Ferruccio came from a family of farmers, he studied in Bologna and then worked as a repair technician for military vehicles in Rhodes, the Greek island, during the Second World War.
Returning to Italy, Ferruccio noticed the growing demand for agricultural vehicles. He was very skilled, manually: he bought some discarded war material and mounted it on a rather simple chassis. A sturdy and cheap tractor, and he called it Carioca. It was a huge success. The logo will be the bull, like Ferruccio’s zodiac sign, tenacious and combative.
Thanks to tractors, Ferruccio could finance his passion for fast cars. He used to have a car for every day of the week, including Jaguar, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Ferrari, of course.
And it was with Ferrari that Ferruccio met by chance one day in Modena in 1952. “You must improve the clutch of your cars; it always breaks”, he said to Ferrari. And Ferrari replied: “You will probably be able to drive tractors very well, but you will never be able to drive a Ferrari.” An offence, not knowing how to drive sports cars. And Ferruccio, who had a sanguine character, did not let it fall and decided to build himself a cutting-edge sports car, a super sports car never seen before.
Success will come with the Lamborghini Miura. The Miura, a mythical name. It was presented in 1965 at the Geneva Motor Show, and it made all the other cars on display suddenly age, including Ferraris, with a more powerful engine and a series of devices used at the time in competitions but not on road vehicles. Just think that the Miura was considered a work of art, and was exhibited from 1968 at the MoMA in New York.
P – What an incredible story…. And so, in the end, I’ve already figured out where we’re going to visit today
M – Of course, we will go to Maranello for a visit to the Ferrari Museum. But in my opinion, the most exciting visit is to the headquarters of Lamborghini, which is now part of the Audi group, in Sant’Agata Bolognese. Here, you even have the opportunity to take a tour of the factory’s production lines, an unforgettable experience for those who are passionate about sports cars.
P – Ok, so, even today time is over, thank you Marcello……