Milan to Maranello and Modena: The Day Trip for People Who Take Both Cars and Food Seriously

There is a triangle of territory in Emilia-Romagna, about two hours south of Milan, that has produced a disproportionate share of the things the world considers worth having.

Ferrari was born in Maranello. Lamborghini in Sant'Agata Bolognese. Maserati in Modena. Ducati in Bologna. The region is also responsible for Parmigiano-Reggiano, Prosciutto di Parma, aged balsamic vinegar from Modena, fresh pasta of a quality that genuinely cannot be replicated elsewhere, and Osteria Francescana — which has held the title of world's best restaurant and which Massimo Bottura runs from a modest building on a Modena side street.

This is a lot of achievement for a relatively small patch of northern Italy.

The Motor Valley

The Emilia-Romagna Motor Valley has been developed in recent years as a coherent tourism proposition — and it has worked. The Ferrari Museum in Maranello is one of the most visited museums in Italy and draws a consistently wealthy, international clientele. The Lamborghini Museum at Sant'Agata is smaller and, in some ways, more impressive for it. Factory tours at both require advance booking but are available for private groups.

The Automobile Museum in Modena, recently renovated, contextualizes the region's car culture within a broader design and engineering narrative. It is excellent.

The common thread among visitors to all of these is that they are, by definition, interested in precision, engineering, and the designed object at its highest expression. They typically have the financial means to be interested in these things as participants rather than spectators. And they are very often in Milan for a day or two on either side of their Motor Valley visit.

Modena's extraordinary food culture

Modena deserves a separate paragraph because it is, quietly, one of the greatest food cities in Italy. The tortellini here — filled with pork, prosciutto, and Parmigiano, served in capon broth — is the definitive version of a dish that gets worse with every kilometer you travel from the city. The Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena, the real aged balsamic that spends 12 to 25 years in a sequence of wooden barrels in farmhouse attics, bears no resemblance to what is sold under the same name in supermarkets.

A visit to a traditional acetaia — a family-run balsamic producer — is one of the more unusual and memorable experiences available within a day trip from Milan. We can coordinate these visits alongside the car museum itinerary.

The combined day

A well-planned Motor Valley day from Milan: depart at 8am, Ferrari Museum at 10am, lunch at Osteria Francescana (or the excellent, more accessible Trattoria Aldina), Lamborghini Museum in the afternoon, acetaia visit at 5pm, back in Milan by 8pm.

That is a day that clients remember for years. We have driven it many times.