FAST CARS, SLOW FOOD

Discover two of Italy’s best-known automotive brands and two of Emilia Romagna’s celebrated delicacies on this full-day excursion to the food and motor valley. Gourmands and sports car lovers will see how fine Parmigiano Reggiano and balsamic vinegar are produced, visit a surprising collection of vintage cars and experience the thrill of driving a Ferrari.

Your chauffeur will pick you up at 8:00 AM at your accommodation and drive you to the Umberto Panini museum of vintage cars and motorcycles, where the most complete collection of Maserati vehicles in the world is on display. Strange as it may seem, the models are housed inside an organic cheese farm which has been producing Parmigiano Reggiano since the mid-1980s. Before admiring the extraordinary fleet, accompanied by a member of staff, you will have the opportunity to visit the dairy and ageing warehouse. Here, learn all about the age-old art of cheese making and get to know the strict rules that regulate the production of Italy’s king of cheeses. Believe it or not, Parmigiano Reggiano has delighted the palates of Italians for some eight hundred years. Its extraordinary fragrance, distinctive flavour and processing methods have hardly altered over the centuries, thanks to the skill of local cheese artisans and their efforts to preserve regional gastronomic traditions. As you will have the chance to see and savour, only this unique territory could reward us with such a tempting treat, born of an abundance of water, extensive grazing grounds and, most important of all, prime quality milk.

Now it’s time to admire the wondrous automobile collection featuring rare Maserati creations, including the A6GCS Berlinetta Pininfarina (of which only four models were ever made), and Tazio Nuvolari’s prize-winning 6C 34. Ducati motorcycles, vintage bicycles and tractors are also exhibited. You will have time to examine these masterpieces of engineering and design and find out how this peculiar collection was first assembled.

A short drive will then bring you to Maranello. Here, on a guided tour of the Ferrari Museum, you will get to know the history behind this famous sports car brand, from its founding in 1947, through the creative and engineering developments of the following decades, to the recent victories of its Formula One racing cars. You will also hear about the life of Ferrari’s creator, the automotive visionary Enzo Ferrari. Born in Modena in 1898, Mr Ferrari devoted his entire life to designing and building sports cars. He discovered his passion for racing at the age of 10, when his father took him to watch a competition at a motor racing circuit in Bologna. Rejected as an employee by FIAT, Enzo Ferrari did not admit defeat and ended up developing his very own racing cars which would become one of the world’s most sought after sports car brands, a symbol of luxury and affluence for generations of drivers.

On display you will see exclusive creations for track and road together with engines, trophies, photographs and memorabilia relating to the motor racing industry. The museum also hosts a Ferrari store selling official merchandise, including clothing for men, women and children, model cars, mugs and caps.

Next, slip into the driver’s seat of a Ferrari, buckle your belt and live your long-wished-for Italian dream. After a technical briefing with an instructor, you will have the opportunity to test drive a Ferrari. Enjoy the riveting sensation of driving through the streets of Maranello behind the steering wheel of this iconic, epoch-making motorsport legend. Your instructor will sit next to you on the passenger seat throughout the test drive so as to ensure a safe, smooth experience.

A delicious lunch featuring local specialities will then be served at a traditional Emilian restaurant in the nearby town of Castelvetro di Modena.

Finally, treat yourself to a visit and tasting at a family-run acetaia, well-known for making fine balsamic vinegar since 1860. Top quality vinegar is the fruit of a long history of tried and tested techniques passed down over decades. The earliest recorded reference to balsamic vinegar – created centuries ago as a medicine and disinfectant – occurred in a 1046 poem, which noted that a bottle was donated as a gift to Emperor Henry III himself. From curing sore throats and labour pain in the Middle Ages to becoming a prime condiment in Emilian cuisine, balsamic vinegar has taken gigantic strides. Soak up some of the secrets behind its production as a member of staff explains the various stages in its creation – from the selection of vines, through the hand harvesting of crops, to the ageing process in wooden barrels which are used to perfect the aroma and taste of this elixir.

Return to your accommodation in Bologna still tingling with the sensations of the day.