Another Trip to Italy

 

Thinking about this trip started several years ago. I thought it would be fun to tour the Ferrari factory, to see where our car was built. We tried to get passes on several occasions, but the passes were always gone for the times we could go.

In order to get a pass to the Ferrari factory; 1: one must own a Ferrari and 2: a Ferrari dealer must obtain the pass(es). It is difficult to obtain the passes as they go quickly to the larger dealerships.

The dealership we bought our Ferrari from changed to a different dealership long ago, so we had to find another to adopt us. We found one in Oregon near our youngest son’s house and our information was put into the Ferrari system.

Last year I had the idea that we could celebrate Dale’s 80th birthday by touring the Ferrari factory. I told Dale about my idea, but he said he didn’t want to go so I dropped the idea.

In, about, February Dale decided that maybe it would be good to tour the factory. I made the call to the Ferrari dealership who got started on obtaining passes. I asked for 4 passes in the event one or more of our kids could join us.

By April we knew we had obtained the passes and could plan our trip. The trip was iffy, at best, at that time but we went on with our lives.

In August we knew that none of our kids could come along with us. They all have work and kids in school, so getting away in September is difficult at best, but we have other friends who were interested in touring the factory, so we changed our plans to include them.

Earlier, in August, I’d started looking for hotels. I prefer hotels because we can find a hotel that serves breakfast, and we do not need to go thru the cleaning that some Airbnb’s and Vrbo’s require.

I found one hotel in Maranello within walking distance to the Ferrari Museum and the Ferrari factory. Even better, it was free with my Hotels.com points. I reserved a room, non-refundable, for the times we’d be there.

After reserving I found that I’d reserved for the date we were flying into Rome. I’d planned for us to spend the 1^st day in Rome. But now we needed to go directly to Maranello.

As it turned out, going directly to Maranello gave us a day to adjust to the time zone. And even better, it gave us the opportunity to eat at the Cavallino, the restaurant where Enzo would eat lunch. The Cavallino is just across the street from the Ferrari factory.

Italy just won the World Cup and Maranello was celebrating

We met our friends, Dieter and Inge for lunch at the Cavallino. We hadn’t seen them in a year, so it was fun to reconnect. We’d be together for several days.

The Birthday Guy

Dale and I did the wine and meal paring and the restaurant made it special as Dale’s birthday was the following day. We called it his happy birthday week as it is unlucky to say Happy Birthday prior to the actual birthday.