Vi faccio entrare nel mio disordine – terza puntata

Day 3

The previous night I was still deciding how should I go about this day. Would it be the ‘Modena first’ or the ‘Maranello first’ plan, meaning to which Ferrari museum I’d go to first. The plans had slight differences in time that would be left for either place, and ofcourse in the timetables of the respective public transport I needed. The ‘Modena first’ plan had a slightly later wake-up time. I went with that plan.

Early wake-up again still. Talk show on the TV talks about Sanremo. I remember Mr Rain being talked about positively, kinda in the sense like he might be a contender for a good placing. Would’ve been fun staying tuned-in for longer but there was a big day ahead.

I went ahead to a bar where I had a filled croissant and espresso. Lovely, cozy ambient of the bar. At the window there was a rainbow flag and I saw some flyers with the words “anime” on them. I know this means “souls” but I still took one because why not.

The morning

But was this bar stop a mistake? I enjoyed the experience so I don’t regret it, but I ended up just about not making it on time for the planned train. In a quick decision I changed the time for the ticket while I still could, and I delayed it for about half an hour. Slightly more time to go around I suppose. I believe what I did in this time was go to a store to get a little something I could eat along the way (a small pack of seeds and dried fruits). They had them on offer for various “occasions”.

This time I got on the train. But…

It turned out I had to validate the ticket despite buying it via the app. I found out thanks to the automatic speaker in the train, while being in the train. Oh shit. Was I about to get fined?

It wasn’t exactly an enjoyable train ride. I decided that if I was lucky enough not to get checked by the first stop, I’d get off on it. And that’s how it went. And that’s how my unexpected detour at Castelfranco Emilia happened.

A glimpse of Castelfranco Emilia

I didn’t go too far within the city. There was a nice playground thing with EU flags. And I spotted another rainbow flag on a building. If I went a bit further towards the center I would’ve ended up on some lovely streets. But I knew nothing about this place so I didn’t know I was so close to such streets and I was being conservative to be sure I’ll make it to the next train. This time I did everything I needed so it would be a more pleasant ride, although not a very long one cause Modena was quite close now.

In the end no one ever even checked tickets that morning. It was a bit chaotic, and later than expected, but I made it to Modena. I remember thinking that being this chaotic was almost fitting due to the way the Ferrari F1 team operates sometimes :p

What I needed to do now was to get return tickets for the bus towards Maranello. I wasn’t gonna go there immediately, but I wanted to get the tickets right after leaving the train because you could do it near the train station so why not get that out of the way. And I did check beforehand but it seems it wasn’t possible to do it online. There were also bus ticket machines near the train station, which I tried at first, but I didn’t know how to get what I needed from the machine. There were tickets for specific line numbers you could get from the machine and I wasn’t sure which one would be the one for Maranello so it was better to get it from an actual person. Going away from the machine there were some other people waiting to use the machine, and I actually went ahead and asked them in Italian if it’s possible to get Maranello tickets from the machine, but they seemed to be in a similar situation as me, being there for the first time.

So I went ahead to the ticket sale point where there was an actual human and I managed to purchase the return ticket using Italian. Doing this in Italian felt like a win even if I didn’t have to say anything too complicated.

Now the idea was to head towards the Ferrari museum in Modena. Already from the train station I was getting lovely vibes from Modena, and this just continued the more I was able to go around it. Beautiful, polished buildings around me, and I wasn’t even exploring the center yet.

I followed signs indicating the museum. It wasn’t supposed to be too far from the station anyway. I made it there and near the entrance (in what turns out to be the “engine room”) I could already see a Ferrari F1 car through the window. What a way to build my excitement.

Headed inside. As I found out now, the exhibitions in the main room are changeable, and the one I was there to see ended shortly afterwards. The one I saw was of the Ferrari “Game changers”. Supposedly an F1 car was supposed to be there as well, but I don’t recall seeing one nor can I find it from my pictures of the main room.

I liked going around it though. The ground wasn’t flat, there were inclines and whatever would be the word of the opposite of an incline. Kinda felt dizzy (I think due to that) which was my only issue.

There was a video room where there was a car presentation clip being played on repeat. I knew a short movie about Enzo Ferrari would be played and I actually thought it would be in that video room, but after a while I gave up on waiting for it there and went outside. Which was good timing cause that movie I waited for seemed to have started. By the end it kinda felt emotional cause I’m weird.

Leaving the main room, there was then a shop. I think it was in this one that I saw a lovely keychain. But I guess I didn’t wanna believe the price tag cause I asked to make sure and yeah it really did cost like 35€. It really was lovely but yeah that felt like too much to be justifiable. They also had replica Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz helmets which was cool.

Then the separated engine room. I wondered how would anyone know if you entered this without tickets cause no one seemed to be there to check until the entrance to the main part. But before this you have a lovely miniature garage reconstruction as well as the reconstruction of a meeting room.

The miniature garage

And yeah once you enter there were engines. Fascinating to see how complex these things are. A couple of Ferrari road cars were there as well which was cool. But my main highlight was ofcourse the 2002 F1 Ferrari I saw from the outside earlier. I smiled while admiring it and taking a bunch of pictures of it. I took my time being around it.

That was that for the Modena museum. Felt joyous. Spotted a beaver around the parking area. Headed out towards the wrong side. After I headed out properly, it was time to enjoy walking around this beautiful city for a bit.

I believe on this walk it’s when I heard Tuta Gold playing from a car passing by. Another moment of this type which I appreciated.

Joys taking in the architecture and vibes of this city. There’s just this borderline surreal feeling being in such a place. It’s hard to describe it but it was definitely a positive feeling. I felt like every street in the old city part was eye candy worth checking out. I went to an ATM within a bank to take out some cash and I got confused with it not reacting to my card, but I figured it out after a woman pointed me to where the card should go. It was kinda different from the ATMs I’m used to, idek.

I didn’t have too much time to enjoy walking around the city cause soon it was time for the bus towards Maranello. That’s right, Maranello.

As I figured out where to wait for the bus, it became evident that this will be slightly different than what I expected. Basically I had big vibes of 2019, when being mixed in with high schoolers in the bus was a regular occurence in my life. This seemed to be the same. A bus where “regular” people can go, but it’s also used by a bunch of high schoolers.

While waiting I dropped one of the tickets out of my pocket, which was pointed out to me by a woman. She entered the same bus and I thanked her inside. I also had no idea at first how to validate the tickets within the bus but it worked out in the end. I was seated on this local bus, going towards Maranello. In a way it felt like such a mundane thing, while being aware I came from far away to be able to be in this position. Yet I may have been the only one inside who was actually there for the reason of going to the Ferrari museum. For others Maranello was just a stop on the bus route, something they probably already saw many times, going through it on a daily basis.

Also, just doing a very mundane thing among locals in a place far away from where I usually am. Idk but there was this unique feeling to it.

Along the way there was even a moment when the bus driver told a passenger to go get change from a bar along the way. Some things are just universal among countries it seems.

I got out at the main bus station of Maranello. Navigated my way towards the Ferrari factory. Felt disbelief over the fact that I’m here. Thought this was also the museum till I realized I’d have to go a bit further for that.

I went towards the center of Maranello. Went to a store to grab something quick to eat and drink. Sat and ate on a nearby bench. All this in Maranello. Before heading towards the Maranello museum. I took the Eurovision 2022 tote bag and put the remaining food and ice tea into it, as well as the small shoulder bag. Mind went back to the Torino trip, and it was similar in a way with the eating while heading towards something special. On both trips I saw F1 Ferrari cars as well.

I succesfully arrived to the museum in front of which there was a caged F1 car, which looked like another 2002 Ferrari. Inside on the wall there’s a Ferrari F1 car in the 2023 colors, below which there was a sign saying “coming soon”, teasing the launch of the 2024 car. I wondered if there’d be any Lewis Hamilton references after the shock news of his arrival came not too long before this, but this was the only 2024 related content that I could see.

Within the museum there’s people dressed in Ferrari F1 team clothing. For whatever reason it almost felt like a game or simulation. Got my ticket checked and started exploring.

It starts with some road Ferrari cars which are cool to check out. Posters for the old Modena Grand Prix and Brescia circuit. But the most memorable part for me was the “Victories room”. Several Ferrari F1 cars, accompanied by clips of historic moments. Engines inside the room as well. And a space dedicated to trophies as well as miniature models of the cars. I would’ve had so many fun moments playing with these models as a child. I was fascinated to see all these trophies, reading from which race they were, trying to recall who raced at that particular race and where did they finish.

Gave each F1 car a bit of time, reading through the text, trying to take the best picture I could. It could get crowded at times, so when I couldn’t reach a particular car I focused on the engines. Following this was another room with more race cars, and texts about the racing teams on the walls. A section dedicated to the Ferrari logo, showcasing how it was changing through the years. Ending with the 2018 F1 car in 2023 colors.

To leave the room, you needed to scan a QR code, which I got slightly confused with, seeing as I had a digital ticket, but I figured it out and got out. On the way out there’s also things like Fernando Alonso’s 2010 front wing, and a replication of the pitwall, which looked to be based on the 2012 season, at least according to the driver list visible on the machines. Loads of DELL monitors (same as mine), switches and buttons. And a model car next to it which its possible to try doing a pitstop on, but no one did it at the time I was there.

And that was it for the museum. At the end there’s a store, and I ended up buying myself a Ferrari mug, as well as a pen which doesn’t seem to be functional at the moment but at least it looks nice… And I got a lovely looking bag with all that.

Sat at the bench outside the museum to give my legs a break. My next “objective” was to go near the Fiorano test track to have a look at it and potentially see something being tested on it. Before that I walked around the Ferrari HQ building and took pictures of the iconic entrance to the Ferrari factory. Pictures I’ve looked at as a child in F1 magazines, now right in front of my eyes.

Passing by were various Ferrari employees, dressed in Ferrari overalls. I got as near to the Fiorano test track as possible, trying to catch the best looks that I could. It was my first time seeing a race track of this level. And I did come at the right time to see a white Ferrari road car being tested.

I felt satisfied and complete, having done everything I aimed to do. I also got emotional thinking about the fact I was able to get myself to such places, remembering how I was interested in them since childhood and being there and seeing them with my own eyes now. I started heading back towards the center, and eventually bus station.

Thought if I should go ahead and do a quick Ferrari flagship store visit, but I decided there’s not much need to and that being conservative with time would’ve been better. Reached the bus station before time and waited there. There was confusion about which would be the correct bus, and it turned out that for the way back I’d be taking the bus which is doing a slightly different route than the first one, but still ends up in Modena. My phone battery was getting dangerously low and I still had the train ride back to Bologna after this. I used the phone as little as I could, and put it on battery saving mode.

Heading out in Modena, a little bit more time was left to walk around. But I didn’t have too much time to “splurge” on. My sense of direction failed me this time however.

I ended up going the wrong way a bit too many times. Google Maps was also being questionable. Ofcourse, lifting my mood and spirits, Alfa’s Vai played in my head during the times when I had to just go forward through a long street on the way to the train station. But I failed to arrive on time for the train whose ticket I bought.

Luckily, the train did the same. There was like a 15 minute delay. Thank you, Trenitalia, for being late on this particular occasion. I just about managed to get on the right train. Phone battery levels were still good enough to show my ticket from the app if needed. Oh and this time I did validate the ticket. Day started with chaos, ended with chaos, but it was all well in the end. I kept thinking how it might feel shitty but soon enough I’ll want to have this type of chaos again instead of whatever regular life things I’ll have to be back to.

Wasn’t quite gonna make it on time for Sanremo this time. Went ahead and got a crescentina for the rest of the walk back. By the time I was showered and ready to eat dinner, a few acts already performed. And I had to get everything ready for check-out the next morning so I didn’t follow the night with full attention till I finally layed down on the bed.