https://emiliaromagnaturismo.it/en Archives - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

It’s the very definition of cool and, of course, it’s a thing, following in the tyremarks of the world’s most famous racing car… take it as red with Ferrari on the road.

Now, there are those of us who travel the world for your benefit, with extra skill sets (and I’m reminded of my old Tobagonian pal Marsha reminding me I have none).

And who combine their love and expertise in travel.

By road testing the best and latest cars on foreign roads.

And, of course, Marsha would have smiled too at my cack-handed attempts at getting the Fiat Cinquecento out of the car park in Cannes.

To take for a spin around the French Riviera.

I’m a danger to myself and others which is why the Fiat’s owner did the driving then.

And why I would leave it to someone else,

Perhaps my own Girl Racer, to accompany me when I take on a Ferrari tour.

Hello Maranello

Enzo Ferrari’s empire was, as you’ll either know or will learn from the eponymous film, was built around Maranello in Emilia-Romagna in the north of Italy.

And, of course, Maranello and Emilia-Romagna is where you’ll find the most passionate tifosi.

The tifosi being the name for the Ferrari faithful who cheer on their every car’s move.

Now while Maranello will forever be associated with scarlet red racing cars, there is a rich cycling heritage around these parts.

Maranello velo

And next year will see Maranello host Le Grand Depart, the coveted start of Le Tour de France 2024.

And it is the first time it will set off from Italy in 101 years.

But that can wait and we will return to it.

After all haven’t we scaled one of the highest climbs on the tour anyway in the French Pyrenees.

Which way to Maranello? On the Pic du Midi

Because our focus is on the four-wheeled masters of the open road with the Adam Driver (had to be him, really) Ferrari film.

Unlike Driver who had to pass on the driving to a stuntsman.

You can enjoy the purring Ferrari on a self-drive trip.

Mulberry wheeeee

For less than £10,000pp Mulberry Travel will give you the keys of a gleaming Ferrari to zip around in… and a Ferrari Tour Director.

With British Airways flights, the best hotels to stay in and food and drink (not too much, now) all from £8,825pp.

Mulberry Travel’s packages, in conjunction with Red Travel (0bvs) range from a 1-day experience.

To an 8-day grand tour and are tailored around you.

You’ll have the opportunity to glide through Tuscany, the Northern Lakes and the Amalfi Coast.

Or if you’ve other faves in Il Bel Paese Mulberry are all over it.

Your director calling

In the hot seat: Driver, again, in Ferrari

Your Tour Director will arrange for your luggage to be transported separately to your next destination hotel.

Any technical assistance and ensuring that each day, your car is at the entrance of the hotel.

Clean, polished, refuelled and ready to go.

And if you’re of the mind, then they will enhance your Ferrari trip.

With a mini-break visiting some of Italy’s beautiful, romantic cities.

Now get this…

End your trip in Venice, though preferably before you hit the wate, and journey back to the UK by train on the Orient Express.

Si, signore and signora, you can take it as red with Ferrari on the road.

Napoleon was a fan, and é vero Italy is amazing, although Parma is amazeballs.

And si, we too have gone round in circles in the very same labyrinth near Padova.

And the Villa Pisani’s Labyrinth of Love by the River Brenta is where Bony and his pals, and Mussolini and Hitler too, played.

Because the prize for those who can find their way into the centre was a fair maiden.

String theory

Labyrinths have been with us since Classical Days when Theseus saved the children of Athens from being eaten.

Armed with a ball of string and a sword given to him by the comely Princess Ariadne.

Of course if I’d been paying attention in my Greek class in school I would have known to take string with me to Boney’s maze.

I did though escape, to get lost another day…

And that day was along the Via Francigena from Viterbo in Lazio into Rome in an olive grove.

And peeling pilgrim stickers to guide you on your way.. like pre-Sat Nav trekkers did.

Bamboo knew?

Of course I could get lost in my own room but far more fun to get stuck in the world’s biggest labyrinth…

No, not in Hampton Court or the Palace of Versailles but in Parma at the Labirinto della Masone, the largest bamboo labyrinth in the world.

The centrepiece in the Emilia Romagna town is made with 200,000 bamboo plants between 30 cm and 15 metres in height.

And the path through it is over 3 kilometres in length.

A work of art

All the brainchild of Franco Maria Ricci, an Italian art publisher and magazine editor.

If (sorry when) you get out you’ll want to check out the connected building.

Where visitors can find an art collection, a restaurant, and two suites to spend the night.

Ricci’s personal art collection, amassed over 50 years, includes Napoleonic busts, mannerist works, paintings spanning the 17^th to 19^th centuries, original illustrations of Luigi Serafini’s Codex Seraphinianu and a wooden model of Milan’s Duomo.

The story goes that Ricci was inspired by a friend and contributor in his publishing house whom he hosted.

Blind faith

And here’s the kicker, Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges was blind!

And even he would have a better chance of finding his way than your Bandanaman.

Still Parma is amazeballs. Just remember your ball of string.

Maybe forget the sword… you’ll probably turn it on yourself out of frustration.

Tag: https://emiliaromagnaturismo.it/en

Take it as red with Ferrari on the road