László Varga

After the Galleria Ferrari visit we went along to visit another great Italian car manufacturer, which has its headquarters nearby: Lamborghini. After visiting the official site we already knew that we had to book a visit 30 days prior to the visit, if we would like to do a factory visit, too. Because of this I have had a couple of e-mails with a Lamborghini official to make the booking to the factory visit also.

When we arrived to the Lamborghini factory, however, they were expecting us with an unpleasant surprise: the factory was closed that week, so we could only visit the museum. They told us that they have sent me an e-mail about this, but I know I did not receive anything… so much for Audi’s professionalism… I knew from another blog review that there is a small window from where you can see inside the factory, but that has been gone too .

After this unhappy moment, we went on to at least visit the two floor Lamborghini museum. Most of our sadness has gone when we saw the cars. The old cars on the ground floor were nice (ex. the first 1963 350 GT of Feruccio Lamborghini and the #0001 Countach), but for me, as a car enthusiast, the real surprise was upstairs. As I climbed up, I saw a real, functioning Reventon , a 1 million euro super-jewel of the current model-range. The other cars were nice, too. There were some concept cars and some tuned-up Diablos. The Diablo stuck on the wall, that I read about in the above mentioned blog, was replaced by a Murcielago of the same color.

We took some pictures, admired the cars, and went to see what is in the gift-shop (They have very kindly notified us, that there is one and they gave us indications where it is… ). Among the pricey clothes and leather accessories present at the gift-shop there were some coffee-mugs that seemed interesting, but at the 24 euro price the did not look so nice as the 18 euro coffee mugs at Ferrari’s gift-shop.

Not taking into consideration, that the main attraction of the day, an actual visit inside the factory was so simply blown away, it was a nice experience. I have uploaded some photos to my Picasa web account.

Yesterday we did a trip to Galleria Ferrari in Maranello, a museum and showcase of Ferrari’s history and current models.

The gallery was not so hard to find, provided, that one has a GPS on board. Otherwise, in my opinion, it can be a bit tricky. For people who are used to drive on Italian roads, it might be easier though. Immediately after entering Maranello, we spotted a camouflage Ferrari, a Ferrari California style car with its front bumper camouflaged, probably a new model or face-lift. Now we were sure we were at the right spot . We drove along on the narrow streets of Maranello, and arrived in front of the big parking-place in front of Galleria Ferrari. Finding a parking-spot was not easy. The place was overcrowded, there have even been 3-4 buses also, and lots of tourists at the entrance.

In front of the gallery, there was an offer of experiencing a Ferrari on the passenger seat for 15 minutes. They said it would have cost 100 euros. Well, considering the fact that, in our opinion, sitting in the passenger seat for 15 minutes while some driver goes around in the narrow, crowded streets of Maranello is not really the Ferrari experience that one would hope for, we skipped this ‘great’ offer. (It was an old 360 Modena anyway )

After the parking lot experience and the turn down of the ‘offer of our lifetime’, we went in the Gallery. Surprise, surprise, the whole visit started with the Gift Shop. Nice place, with lots of interesting stuff, but unfortunately we have not been allowed to take photos. We bought the tickets for 13 euros each and started the tour of the gallery.
The exposition is arranged in two floors with 5-6 rooms in total. The ground floor is dedicated to Ferrari’s Racing history and present. Many historic race cars are present from the old original race cars to the 2006 F1 racing car.
The first part of the second floor had exhibits of early and current models of Ferraris including the 612 Scaglietti, GT race cars (575 GT, 360GT etc.), the F50, California, F40, GTO, Dino, Testarossa, Enzo etc.

All in all it is a great experience for car fans. The models exposed are great, some of the models being really rare jewels of car history. I liked the fact that the race cars are, I think, originals (used tires and steering wheels). It was also a good thing that visitors can take photos inside the gallery. One could get really close (but not touch) the cars and just feel the Ferrari experience .

I have uploaded photos to my Picasa web account.