My Trip to Maranello

I recently got back from traveling abroad. The trip included Ireland, Amsterdam, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. While in Florence, I took a day trip by myself to Maranello. It was a journey, to say the least, and I am proud of myself that I found it without getting lost and even made it back to Florence for dinner, knowing only one word in Italian (grazie). If I can remember correctly, it included 2 or 3 trains and 2 buses, and took a little under 3.5 hours to get to Maranello. I found the factory, which I was only able to view from the outside, and made my way to Galleria Ferrari, the museum. To be completely honest, it is not worth it to go to Maranello just to see the museum; I have been to Pebble Beach a few times and the museum was what you'll see within 10 minutes of being in Monterey for the car weekend. What made the trip worth it was having the opportunity to drive a 430 on the streets for about 20 minutes. I was walking around the area just outside of the museum and factory, and saw a guy standing next to a 430. I walked up to him, we exchanged a few words, and next thing I know I am in an office signing a contract. It took 5 minutes worth of me signing my name, him scanning my license, and me paying 100 Euros, and I was off. I had little to no instruction on operating the vehicle, granted it was F1. It was a blast! Enjoy the pics. The 599 looks to be a test mule. It was badgeless and had a few instruments coming from the underbody, but I may be wrong. Maybe it was fresh off the line and being tested before shipment. What does everybody think?
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Great place to spend some time. Thanks for sharing the interesting pictures. Nice story to and the 430 drive would certainly make my day! That red 599 appears to have been ordered without the shields and just having a preshipment road test. Each test driver has his own lic plate number.
CH

 

Oh that's interesting and makes sense. What about that piece of metal coming from the underbody though (on the passenger side)?

 

I'm not so sure .. "delivery" vehicles have white protective film covering their leading edges .. and enter/exit via the side entrace, not the main gate .. plus no shields doesn't mean no cavalino's anywhere (hood, trunk, wheels). The mystery continues.

 

Fantastic pics mate!!

Looks like you had a great time. Thanks for sharing.

 

Thanks PAP! I actually made it to Maranello with the help of an Aussie... who would have thought? I met a guy from Melbourne in Munich who gave me fairly good directions of how to get from Florence to Maranello. That's a bit of a tongue twister.

 

Ah, very good!

Us Aussies are good at giving directions.

 

Very cool pics - I bet that was a ton of fun.

That gnocci looks tasty!!

 

Very cool.

There is something odd about that 599. It just looks different.

 

That sounds like a wonderful experience you had - thanks for sharing and thanks for the pics.

 

It certainly does!!

 

Excellent pics! One of these days, I need to visit Maranello.

 

looks like you had a splendid time! I'm actually going to spend a few weeks in europe this summer: italy, france, greece..it's my first time visiting these countries and i'm very much looking forward to it!