Car museums, motorcycle legends and proper pasta: spend a week exploring Italy’s motoring heartland
The difficult bit isn’t finding something to do in Italy’s Motor Valley. It’s remembering that you’ve only booked a week. Between Modena and Bologna, with an excursion into the Apennines and onwards to Imola, you can trace the rise of Ferrari, investigate Maserati’s racing ancestry, compare two different Lamborghini museums and discover why Ducati deserves equal billing. There are smaller collections too, where the engineering is no less ingenious for lacking a merchandising department. Add mountain roads, balsamic vinegar cellars and lunches that discourage bucket seats, and the sensible approach becomes obvious: arrive hungry, book ahead and take your time.
Day one: Bologna, appetite first
Arrive on a Monday and settle into Bologna for two nights, choosing a hotel with parking and leaving the car alone. Today is about understanding why lunch deserves its own entry in the itinerary.
Begin around Piazza Maggiore, then explore the Quadrilatero’s narrow food-shopping streets and Mercato di Mezzo. Mortadella, local cheeses and fresh pasta provide considerably better browsing than duty-free. Buy bread and salumi to take into Osteria del Sole, where you bring the food and buy the drinks. With no driving planned, there’s time to linger.
Walk beneath the porticoes before dinner: tagliatelle al ragù is the obvious order. Resist booking a museum today; tomorrow provides three, and nobody improves a holiday by treating it like a qualifying session.
Day two: Ducati and both Lamborghinis
Start at Ducati in Borgo Panigale, following its progression from radio components to road bikes and racing machinery. This is a museum-only morning; adding the factory tour makes the day unnecessarily tight. Ducati normally closes on Wednesdays, which is why we’ve made this Tuesday.
Continue to Automobili Lamborghini’s museum in Sant’Agata Bolognese. Miura, Countach and their successors demonstrate how effectively a low roof and outrageous proportions can rearrange your priorities.
After lunch, head east to the Ferruccio Lamborghini Museum at Funo di Argelato, allowing for its lunchtime closure and 2pm reopening. This second museum tells the founder’s wider story through tractors, his personal Miura SV and even a helicopter prototype. It’s not repetition: one collection follows the manufacturer, the other the man.
Allow at least an hour at each museum, with unhurried gaps for lunch and the drives between them. Return to Bologna for dinner and another night.
Day three: Righini, Pagani and Modena
Leave Bologna for Panzano, near Castelfranco Emilia, where the Righini collection occupies a castle rather than a corporate exhibition hall. Arrange access beforehand: this is a private collection, not somewhere to approach with an expectant expression. Its 1940 Auto Avio Costruzioni 815 provides a glimpse of Enzo Ferrari’s work before his surname appeared on his cars.
Continue to San Cesario sul Panaro for Pagani. Reserve the combined museum-and-atelier tour to see how the cars are built, rather than merely admiring the finished objects. Few places make a humble fastening seem quite so interesting.
Book morning appointments, then continue into Modena for three nights. Catch Mercato Albinelli before its 3pm weekday closing, followed later by gnocco fritto, cured meats and a glass of dry Lambrusco.
Day four: Maserati and Stanguellini
Begin with a reserved tour of Maserati’s Viale Ciro Menotti headquarters. The showroom introduction and guided visit to the powertrain department provide the contemporary context; secure this weekday booking before organising the rest, because production requirements can change access.
Next, visit Museo Stanguellini by appointment. Its small sports racers and Formula Junior cars reveal another Modenese speciality: making comparatively modest machinery embarrass more expensive opposition.
After lunch, head west to the Panini Maserati collection. It now occupies Via dell’Aeroporto 140/B, so ignore older directions to the cheese farm. The A6GCS Berlinetta, Eldorado single-seater and Birdcage racers deserve lingering examination. Crucially, this is the historic collection, separate from the factory showroom: visiting one doesn’t replace the other.
Return to Modena for tortellini in broth and a walk around Piazza Grande.
Day five: Ferrari and balsamic vinegar
Start at Museo Enzo Ferrari in Modena, where the founder’s birthplace and the yellow-roofed exhibition building introduce the human story behind the badge. Then drive south to Museo Ferrari in Maranello for the competition cars, road machinery and championship history. Buy the combined museum ticket, but don’t mistake it for admission to the factory production lines. Visit Modena
Book lunch at Ristorante Montana near Fiorano, where traditional Modenese cooking and racing memorabilia make an agreeable combination. Gramigna with rich sausage sauce beats eating a sandwich while standing beside the hire car.
Continue to Castelvetro for a reserved balsamic vinegar tour at La Vecchia Dispensa. Its historic ageing rooms occupy a tower, and the tasting explains why proper balsamic deserves more consideration than a casual splash over salad.
Return to Modena through the vineyard country.
Day six: The Apennines to Imola
Leave Modena early, skirt Bologna and join the SS65 south through Pianoro, Loiano and Monghidoro. The city gives way to the Apennines, with enough bends to make you interested in the hire car’s steering rather than its Bluetooth connection.
Stop at Chalet Raticosa for coffee and motorcycle watching, then continue to the Futa Pass. This briefly takes you into Tuscany, so consider the border crossing a bonus rather than a wrong turn. Check weather and road conditions before setting off; shaded corners and busy weekend traffic warrant patience.
After lunch in Firenzuola, follow the Montanara road down the Santerno valley through Castel del Rio towards Imola. Stop to admire Ponte Alidosi before the final stretch.
Make this a whole driving day, not a transfer squeezed between appointments. Stay in Imola tonight.
Day seven: Imola, Dozza and back to Bologna
Arrange a morning visit to Imola’s Battilani motorcycle collection, whose early machines and rarities broaden the story beyond the manufacturers with merchandise departments. Among them is Loris Capirossi’s first competition bike, a Mancini.
Then visit the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, booking any circuit tour in advance and checking whether the Checco Costa museum has an exhibition open. The Senna memorial offers a quieter pause.
Head back towards Bologna via Dozza, allowing time for its painted streets and a final lunch. Buy wine to take home, rather than drink before driving.
Plan an evening flight and leave a generous airport buffer for fuel, car return and check-in. And to try and get your cheeses past the weigh in…
Would you add anything else to this itinerary? Let us know below.
