Ferrari Factory Tour in Maranello: a stunning experience you can't never forget...
People come to Italy for so many reasons: spectacular geographic beauty along its storied coastlines, historically significant art and architecture, body and soul nourishing cuisine. Any of those reasons would encourage a slow-paced, leisurely enjoyment of Italian pleasures. For those visitors looking for a literally faster pace, the best use of time in Italy just might be a Ferrari factory tour. The site is located near Modena, in the town of Maranello, which is also home to the Ferrari Formula One racing team. In fact, the brand has called Maranello home since the 1940’s when Enzo Ferrari relocated the factory from Modena during World War II.
If you are looking for a guided tour in Italy, the one offered at the Ferrari factory in Maranello would be a most unique way to spend some of the hours of your Italian holiday. Constructed in 2009 based on a 2006 French design, the factory is as sleek and stylish as the cars it sends out onto the streets of the world’s cities. Sporting a facade of reflective red steel, glass and mirrors, the building looks like it may take off down the road at an illegal rate of speed. A striking silver sculpture of the Prancing Horse, the brand’s trademark symbol, unmissable.
Highlights of the Ferrari factory include a guided tour of the factory and track, experiencing the F1 simulator, a Ferrari “simulation challenge” and photo opportunities to have your picture taken in either a Ferrari California or F1. Different sizes are available, priced accordingly, and photos come in a stylish protective album. The museum is open from mid-morning to early evening every day except Christmas and New Year’s Day. Entry prices are reasonable, with extra fees for services such as the F1 simulator and tire change trial.
Women along for the ride while their car-enthusiast boyfriends or husbands revert to a giddy childlike state can relax in the series of gardens that surround the Ferrari factory’s buildings. The factory structures themselves are quite beautiful in their own right, boasting the names of such notable Italian architects as Massimiliano Fuksas and Renzo Piano. Piano designed the nearby wind tunnel, an aerodynamically impressive space for testing drag on the race cars.
For private day trips Tuscany tours might include such varied offerings as a visit to the fashion and shopping outlets malls or one of the premier local vineyards for wine tasting. A day spent shopping or sipping wine is never a bad day, but it is nice to know that there is always the option to explore a different kind of showroom with a tour of Maranello’s stunning Ferrari factory.
It will take approximately two hours to reach the factory from Florence, and makes a nice midway stopping point if you are traveling from Florence north to Milan.