Ferrari Mailing List: View from my hotel room in Maranello + Mugello

[Michel Savard (mysavard]

This is the view I had from my Planet Hotel room (#304 if you want to know) in Maranello. Factory with red tower with Ferrari logo, old official entrance in the middle and Ristorante Cavallino at bottom left. Every morning, I opened the curtains to this view. Awesome!

Funny thing is I have been in Maranello 9 times before and always in july (school vacation), I’m retired so I go there in october for the Ferrari Finali Mondiali in Mugello. It gets dark by 18h30 just like here and it is chilly. What a shock! I had not thought about it before I left. I’m used to walk around Maranello until 21h00-22h00. I also got to watch the U.S. Grand Prix live at 21h00 in Auditorium Enzo Ferrari. I’ve seen a few F1 races there through the years.

As for Mugello, I was very impressed by the circuit and how easy it is to walk around the track. In the middle of a forest, like at the bottom of a bowl. You can see far away. I was there on friday, plenty of racing, non-stop all day long. Not like F1 weekend today where you can wait 1-2 hours between sessions. Free access to the paddock. BUT, yes big BUT, the whole set up is created for those who are supposed to be there. Fancy food service for those with special passes, even an official Ferrari Store put up just for the event. I didn’t bother to go in: I’m not paying 600 EU for a scarf. Regular spectators have no food/beverages tents (I had only brought a banana and water bottle), no souvenir tents either. I was ready to spend money for that magical event. That was disappointing.

Getting there by bus is a drag. Make sure you have a car. I wanted to go on sunday too, but the night before, I learned there was no bus services on sunday. Taxi would have been doable but very expensive. I decided to go to CINQUE TERRE instead. Excellent decision, I was amazed by that place.

Forza Ferrari!

Michael Savard