by The F1 season is about to start, and it’s a great thing to talk about. No less thanks to Christian Horner’s continued drama.
But away from Red Bull (based in Milton Keynes), is now the perfect time to visit Maranello, the hometown of Ferrari? And why not combine it with a trip to the capital of Emilia-Romagna, and the whole food center Bologna?
Maranello is great for a day out – an F1 fan’s dream – but there’s so much more to do in Bologna. Just a 50-minute drive away, and with direct flights from London, it makes the perfect base for a long weekend of F1 food and sightseeing.
Here’s what we did on our…
A day in Maranello
Our full day in Maranello was, without a doubt, the reason for our three-night trip.
It’s a small town very focused on the brand. The Ferrari name can be seen all over the place, and you can occasionally catch a glimpse of a sleek red car plying the streets (and Scuderia Ferrari drivers, if you’re lucky).
We started with lunch at Ferrari’s fine restaurant, Ristorante Cavallino. Inside it’s a bit like Architectural Digest meets traditional roadside trattoria – all soft oak paneling and starched white tablecloths, combined with (delicious) Prancing Horse-patterned wallpaper and Vico Magistretti’s slim chairs in unexpected Ferrari red.
Our three course meal was a celebration of local food – plenty of parmesan, balsamic vinegar and tortellini. Particular highlights included pillowy bread rich in olive oil with fatty, melt-in-the-mouth ham, and dessert – a red-coated semifreddo perfectly shaped like a tiny Ferrari. All accompanied, of course, by plenty of wine and Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0% (Ferrari’s new partner).
From here we waddled across the road to the Ferrari shop. One look at the price tag and it’s clear that this is not a current gift shop (although there is one attached to the museum). Ferrari has made a very successful foray into fashion recently, and at this luxe store you can buy a range of clothes from slinky dresses (£850) to leather jumpers (around £5,000). For the Ferrari enthusiast, there’s everything from Montblanc for Ferrari pens, to Puma for Ferrari trainers, and even Ferrari sunglasses for around £1,250 a pair.
After this it was to the main attraction – the Ferrari museum – located a few minutes’ walk, just after the Ferrari factory.
Even those who are not keen on racing will enjoy a visit, to learn about Ferrari’s remarkable history and the streamlined beauty of its cars.
Those on display are mostly on loan from private owners, so the exact collection changes over time. When we visited there was everything from the Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spider – the first car to sport the iconic prancing horse back in 1932 – right through to the SF71H, the model driven by Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen in the 2018 World Championship.
Along the way were beautiful vintage racing models like the 1948 166 MM, with bucket seats in leather so it seems a miracle drivers didn’t slip out. There were also contemporary supercars, tailor-made for loyal and mysterious patrons.
Then there is the trophy room, where gongs have been won and helmets worn by famous Scuderia Ferrari drivers. It also features some of the latest F1 models side-by-side, showing the minor changes that have been made to make the cars more streamlined and aerodynamic year on year.
There are excellent guided tours, available in English, as well as great driving simulators.
Soak up the scenery
After a day in Maranello – which felt a bit like Disneyland for F1 fans – it was time for a few lower octane days wandering around more picturesque Bologna.
Bologna is everything one hopes for in an Italian city – aesthetically and otherwise. It is known as ‘la dotta, la grassa, e la rossa’ – ‘the thief, the fat and the red’ – for being home to the oldest university in the world, for its world-renowned food, and for its beautiful red tile. roofs.
At street level they are all tall buildings of flaming oranges, reds and yellows, with dark shutters and large porticoes. Bologna has more porticoes than any city in the world and they create it for your brow, even if it’s raining (London city planners, please take note).
There are many high-end luxury Italian shops, mixed with small, quaint independent shops, centuries-old osterias, and beautiful red brick basilicas.
And in the middle is the Piazza Maggiore – a large square that is considered to be the jewel in its crown.
Take a cooking class
Bologna is famous for its food, so why not take a class so you can go home and show your friends?
We did ours through Cesarine – a network of hundreds of local home cooks across Italy, who offer authentic cooking classes in their homes.
Our amazing teacher, Oriana, marched us around the city’s markets, gave us plenty of food and drink to try, and showed us her excellent hobby skills as we gathered fresh ingredients. She then took us back to her small apartment, where she taught us how to make tortellini as small as a miniature — scalding and praising us all at once.
It was extremely fiddly work. Five minutes in, I barely had enough pasta to fill a fork, and I finally understood why the smaller types of tortellini I saw in stores were so much more expensive than the larger ones.
An evening class with Oriana costs around 129 euros per person, cesarine.com
Visit the food markets
Bologna has many food markets. Be sure to visit the Quadrilatero – an action of narrow online passages with shops that sell fruits and vegetables so perfect and beautiful that they could be almost plastic. Specialist shops selling parmesan by the kilo, in large, crystalline crates, along with aged syrupy balsamic vinegars, and delicious prosciutto.
Sample local food and drink
Pizza is not as big in Bologna as it is in places like Naples. But my God, there is a lot of pasta – the specialty is tortellini, which is absolutely everywhere.
Tortellini in brodo – tortellini served in a light clear broth – is a Bolognese specialty and a must try. There is also plenty of tagliatelle al ragu (Bolognese!). Local independent Bottega Portici It is a great place to taste pasta, which it serves fast food style, in a casual setting. Fresh tortellini in brodo is around 10 euros.
Drink-wise, there is of course a huge range of excellent local wines. Try pignoletto – a local sparkling white wine, a rival to prosecco. Also try lambrusco – red frizzante, quite sweet and fruity and usually low percentage – and nocino, a delicious, medicinal-tasting local liqueur made from unabi, green walnuts.
City centre Osteria del Sole — which claims to be Bologna’s oldest restaurant, dating back to 1465 — serves an excellent homemade pignoletto. It is an excellent venue, where guests are welcome to bring in food bought at the nearby markets.Calmo Restaurant It’s also a great choice for a more upmarket evening meal, with menus focused on seasonal local produce, and a great selection of natural wines including pignoletto and lambrusco.
(If you’re umming and ahhing about whether to take checked baggage, do it, and thank me later.)
We stayed at the four star Starhotels Excelsior. Located right next to the station, it is within easy walking distance of the city centre, and offers an excellent restaurant as well as a very comfortable night in elegant, modern rooms with queen beds. Prices start from around £140 per night.
BA flies from London Heathrow to Bologna, with flights starting from around £70.
