A Visit to the Church of the Prancing Horse - Inside the Ferrari Factory

Italy is of course famous its art treasures, its museums, palazzos, churches and of course the food. There is one church and museum the automotively inclined should make sure to include in their vacation itinerary: The Church of the Prancing Horse.

Maranello is just off the main highway between Milano and Bologna and if you are driving around Italy, it will be well worth even an impromptu detour as I did with my family when I violently swerved for the exit on a trip a couple year back. “Trust me, you’ll love it....and it’s something I always wanted to see” was my reply to the inevitable questions to my sanity.

There are basically only two things in Maranello, tiles and Ferrari. You can skip the tiles and head right for the famous Cavallino restaurant, right across from the Ferrari factory’s main gates, and have some lunch. The restaurant’s memorabilia, not to mention the food, will put you in the right mood for the rest if your visit.

If you plan ahead, it is possible to arrange for a guided tour of the factory, the same one Henry Ford wanted to buy and was famously rebuffed by the Commendatore. This is course was the beginning of the GT40 and the great attack on Le Mans, but that’s for another day. As you walk out of the restaurant, past the well stocked “Ferrari Store” on the way to the Galleria Ferrari, chances are good that you will see some test mules or perhaps disguised prototypes exiting the factory and heading for the autostrada for some testing so have your camera ready.

The Factory is at the church and the Galleria Ferrari is its museum, chock full of rolling works of art in aluminum, steel magnesium and rubber, an amazing collection that will make any motorhead weak in the knees but the whole family will enjoy. Italian art is not just Tintoretto or Michelangelo but also Pininfarina and Scaglietti.

Before you leave be sure to find Via Goito or Via Marsala, a dead end streets from where you can peak over the wall onto the Fiorano test track and snap some pictures of whatever may be burning rubber there that day.

Amen!

Photo Credit: Andrea Cairone

Read more of Andrea Cairone's racing thoughts and opinions at Axis of Oversteer