Maranello

Maranello is an instantly recognizable name for any fan of sports cars or Formula 1 racing. It is home to one of the most legendary car manufacturers in the world. Ferrari. As a lifelong Ferrari fan, it was always a bucket list location for me. Luckily in 2018, I was able to make this dream become a reality. Of course, since it is still Lindsay and me, this trip was a lot more complicated and entertaining than it needed to be.

I am going, to be honest with you right up front. This story does include a whiskey but I don't know which one because it was in a cocktail and I didn't ask. I do remember the Guinness though! All will be explained.

Lindsay and I had joined her parents and their friends on an Italian vacation in the summer of 2018. Even though it was everyone's first time going to the country besides me, Lindsay and I were the only ones who wanted to do a tour. Since they knew a couple of locals we were going to plan the trip ourselves and see how it went. Seeing the route they were planning on taking from Venice to Lucca I noticed we drove through Modena. A small Italian city that was the birthplace of Enzo Ferrari, the founder of the company, and home to one of Ferrari's museums. More importantly, it was only a short drive from Modena to Maranello! We would be so close to Ferrari that we had to go and I made sure everyone was aware of this fact. Throughout the rest of the year of planning, we were going to stop in Maranello and I couldn't believe it. However, a month before we left the plans had suddenly changed and the route had been altered. We were no longer going to be anywhere near Maranello anymore. I was initially devastated but Lindsay assured me we would find a way. We hadn't nailed down what all we were doing in Lucca for the week so we would have some free time we could sneak away. However, with only one car we would have to find transportation but we were determined.

The day finally came and Linday and I boarded the flight to start our Italian adventure. I still had not received a clear plan on what we would be doing while we were in Lucca. We had a list of things we wanted to get done but nothing set in stone. This made it very difficult to buy tickets for the train to get to Maranello and tickets to the Ferrari Factory and main museum. When we were all discussing plans for the next day the group decided to go to another winery for a tasting just south of Lucca. Although Lindsay and I like wine, we wanted to do more exploring instead of seeing another winery. It was decided we would find our way to Maranello the next day. We went online bought our train tickets, mapped out our route, and made a schedule to make sure we would get back in time. Sadly tickets to the factory tour were already sold out which wasn't that surprising. Also because of our limited travel options, we would not get to explore the other Ferrari museum in Modena. As disappointing as all this was because of the year of build-up that I had hope for before the plans were altered, I was still thrilled to be able to see any of it. Our trip would include catching a train in Lucca, getting off at Prato Central, catching a train to Bologna, getting off there, and catching a train to Modena, to get off there and catch Ferrari's bus to Maranello. I assure you that this was the fastest and most efficient way to get there in the short amount of time that we had. Lindsay and I had the schedule and the plan, what could go wrong?

Do you remember that feeling of trying to fall asleep on Christmas Eve when you were a kid? All that nervous excitement made it almost impossible as your mind raced about how much fun you were going to have in the coming hours. That is exactly what I felt like. Sleep did not come easy as I just imagined what it would be like and how cool it was going to be to see it all. My alarm finally went off the next morning! Well, it was more for Lindsay because I was already up and was dressed in a flash. She eventually got up, got ready, and headed downstairs. It felt like an entirety waiting for everyone else to eat and get ready so we could leave. The group was going to drop me and Lindsay at the train station and they were going to do something else. When we got to the train station, we checked our tickets, double-checked our route and our stops, and we were finally ready for our trip to Maranello.

The trip was going to be a little complicated but we knew we could make it work. We had to. This was our only shot. Get on the train in Lucca, catch our connecting train at Prato, then catch another connecting train in Bologna for our final stint to Modena, so we could catch the Ferrari bus to Maranello and the factory. There was time at each location to give us a small buffer as long as nothing crazy happened. After enjoying the short train ride from Lucca we saw that Prato was coming up so we gathered our tickets and got off when the train stopped. It was a very small train station in the middle of the Italian countryside. As pretty as the location was something didn't feel right. We checked the boards to see where to catch the train to Bologna but there was no train to be found. Frantically we found a map of the route and my heart sank. There are two Prato stops... and we got off at the wrong one. I was sick. I had been so excited for this day for so long and had overplanned so much in the short amount of time that I had so I couldn't believe I made such a cataphoric mistake. Since our friend that helped us buy the tickets was a local he didn't even think to tell us there were two Prato stops and which one was the one we needed. There was no hope to catch our remaining trains and my hopes of getting to Ferrari were dwindling. Desperate, we went to the ticketing area to try to ask for help. In such a small and remote part of Italy, English was not spoken so communicating our issue to the woman in ticketing was very difficult. She was patient with us but also a little frustrated about our inability to communicate with one another. We could tell she wanted to help but it was just difficult for both parties to properly figure out how. We gave her our current tickets and tried typing our issues in Google Translate which did enough. She finally decided she wasn't going to try to get us back on our original course and just sent us straight to Modena out of ease. That actually worked a lot better for us and got us in Modena only a little behind schedule! If we ran into no more problems we would be able to catch the bus to Ferrari. Thanks to that random Italian woman we still had a chance.

I have never been happier getting off of a train than I was when we arrived in Modena with just enough time to catch the Ferrari bus. I almost squealed when Lindsay and I walked up to the bus station as a bus adorned in Ferrari logos drove up. This was really happening. We were really here. Amongst all the excitement of making it onto the bus taking us to the factory, there was still a nagging ping of disappointment. There was a really big Ferrari museum in Modena at Enzo Ferrari's old home with a vast collection of some of the most famous cars the brand has built. If we would have had more time and more planning we wouldn't have had to rush past it. Hopefully, I would get a chance to come back and see it. All those feelings were washed away by the euphoria of seeing the legendary factory just on the horizon. We. Were. At. The Real. Ferrari Factory!

The museum was everything I dreamed it to be. There was the history of the company and some of their early production cars. The best part though was the large section of their F1 history. Ferrari is the most legendary team in Formula One and with a quick jaunt through the museum that becomes wildly apparent. Enzo's passion for racing oozes through all the exhibits whether they were production cars or the race team. I was speechless walking into the trophy room and seeing all of the accolades and the actual F1 cars that achieved them. It was incredible to be amongst it all. After absorbing as much greatness as we could Lindsay and I left the museum to go find food before we continued our adventure. Weirdly enough right outside the museum was a place called The Beer Stop, which looked like a German pub. Since this whole trip had been so weird we decided that is where we needed to go while we were in Italy. We got burgers and I got an Old Fashioned. I am pretty sure it was made with Maker's Mark but I am not sure. Language barriers are hard. It was the kind of moment to celebrate. Drinking whiskey, at a German pub, right next to the Ferrari factory in Italy while being serenaded by the sound of Ferrari engines driving by. This had been the first whiskey I had on the trip and it was a welcomed reprieve from wine. Eating a burger, with a glass of whiskey, watching Ferrari's drive-by is my heaven. It was awesome and Lindsay and I still cherish the absurdity of that moment and how it came to be. The best part, however, is that it wasn't over just yet.

We walked around Maranello to catch more of its famous landmarks. We walked past the famous gate looking into the factory, saw the research and development building, but had yet to see one of the main reasons I wanted to come here. Fiorano. Ferrari's private test track where every car is tested. Anything from their normal production cars to their supercars, to their F1 cars, are taking around that famous track. I had played it on video games but I just had to see it while we were there. One issue though is we had no way to do that. In order to see the track, you either have to be on the tour of the factory grounds (which was sold out for that day since we couldn't buy tickets early) or pay one of the local Ferrari rental places nearby for the package that included a lap around the track (also sold out). It looked like we were out of options. As disappointed as I wanted to be about that, I was still so excited Lindsay and I actually figured out how to just get here. It was still better than a dream. Our last stop was to find the Ferrari Store to see if we could afford anything at all. Spoiler alert: Not really. When you walk in you get a personal shopper that follows you around and picks things up for you so you don't have to. She was very friendly and I think appreciated the awe we had for everything. I went to pick up a book and she smiled as she grabbed it for me instead and handed it to me. I told her I wanted this and went to turn towards the cashier. She politely asked for it back so she could get me a fresh one from the back. I had never been shopping like this ever before! While we were checking out I asked about Fiorano and she smiled and told me I should have no problem seeing it. All I had to do was take a left out of the shop and walk down the main road until we got to a bridge. On the bridge, we would be able to see over the fence to the famous track. Walking down a pretty busy road with no sidewalks to peer over a fence to see a track? Sound a lot like the shenanigans Lindsay and I get involved in. It wasn't the safest thing we have ever done but it was worth it. Watching Ferrari's zoom around the track was amazing! Sadly though our time was running short and we had to head back to the bus stop.

After all of the craziness of getting to Maranello, we had successfully completed our trip and were on the train back to Lucca. It was everything I had hoped it would be and my only disappointment was we didn't have more time. We fully expected to be awestruck by the museum and the lore of Ferrari but one of the things Lindsay and I talk about the most is actually our time eating lunch over burgers and whiskey while being able to enjoy everything Ferrari had to offer laid out in front of us. I know what you are asking yourself though. How do you end such a chaotic and fun day in Italy? With a Guinness from an Irish pub at the train station in Lucca Italy. That is how!