007 TRAVELERS: 007 Travel story: Maranello (ITALY) 2015

In order to read our Italy 007 travel story from day one, click here.

Monday 27th of July 2015

After spending a wonderful time in Siena we started to drive to Maranello.
007 Travelers (Pirita, Mika and Little Agent Traveler) traveled by car.

Traveling by car

From: Siena, Italy
To: Maranello, Italy via Florence, Italy
Toll charges: 9,40 EUR

MARANELLO

About:

Maranello is a town and comune in the region of Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy, 18 km from Modena. It is best known as the home of Ferrari S.p.A. and the Scuderia Ferrari Formula One racing team. Maranello was also home to coachbuilding firm Carrozzeria Scaglietti, now owned by Ferrari.

Maranello has been the location for the Ferrari factory since the early 1940s, when Enzo Ferrari transferred operations from the Scuderia Ferrari Garage and Factory in Modena, which had been his base of operations dating back to Scuderia Ferrari's days as an arm of Alfa Romeo, due to bombing during World War II. Initially the factory in Maranello was a base not only for Scuderia Ferrari but also for Auto Avio Costruzioni, the machine tool manufacturing business started by Enzo to tide the company over while Alfa Romeo's ban on Enzo Ferrari making cars bearing the Ferrari name was in force. The public museum Museo Ferrari, which displays sports and racing cars and trophies, is also located here.

Ferrari´s high and mighty stallion

This church´s famous bells toll in Maranello when Ferrari wins.

We reached our gorgeous hotel at 15.30 and checked in.

Accommodation

Hotel: Maranello Palace ****
Address: Via Grizzaga 71, 41053 Maranello, Italia
Booked: Via Booking.com
Price: 114,00 EUR / 1 night
City tax: 2,00 EUR / person / night
Breakfast: Included
Wi-Fi: Free
Parking: Free
Check-in: 15.00 - 24.00
Check-out: 7.00 - 10.00
Room type: Triple room, 36m2

We got room number 123, it was on 1st floor, with own balcony.

We got to give credit for hotel´s Wi-Fi connection, it is as fast as Ferrari!

And Ferrari is the reason why we visited Maranello.

There are two interesting things in Maranello that interest us, Finnish Bond bloggers:
Kimi Räikkönen and a Bond girl Xenia Onatopp. (Famke Janssen)

Let´s talk about this Bond connection first:

In the Bond movie "GoldenEye" (1995) -which was the first of the James Bond films ever to be released on DVD - Xenia Onatopp, drives a red Ferrari F355 GTS. In the opening car chase between Bond's Aston Martin DB5 and Onatopp's Ferrari, she performed some of her own driving stunts.

Photo © EON, United Artists, Danjaq LLC

Engine: DOHC V8 (5 valves per cylinder), longitudinally-mounted, 3496 cm3
Top speed: 295 km/h
Acceleration 0-100 km/h: 4,6 seconds
Length: 4249 mm
Width: 1900 mm
Weight: 1724 kg

Xenia Onatopp can't take advantage of Q-Branch knowledge, so she has to trust Ferrari F355 GTS's speed and impressive driveability. Even though there are no hidden extra gadgets - except fake licence plates, that 007 notices outside of Monte-Carlo Casino - it challenges all cars, including Bond's DB5.

Ferrari's legendary Maranello factory has produced some of the world's most impressive cars and F355 GTS is no exception. It combines raw power and eye-catching appearance.

Xenia Onatopp´s Ferrari F355 GTS
parked outside of Monte-Carlo Casino
Photo © EON, United Artists, Danjaq LLC

Pierce Brosnan as James Bond for the first time
Photo © EON, United Artists, Danjaq LLC

The race against the Ferrari F355 GTS on the mountainroads is filmed near Nice and Monte Carlo. This is one of the few chases that James Bond loses. According to BMT 216A site, the Ferrari was on loan from the Ferrari factory, and during the filming the cars incurred several thousand pounds of damage, the Ferrari was especially badly damaged. The producers and Ferrari agreed that Ferrari paid for the damage to their car if Onatopp and Ferrari won the race.

Ferrari 355 GTS and Aston Martin DB5 racing
Photo © EON, United Artists, Danjaq LLC

We wanted to visit Ferrari Museo, tickets 15 euros / adult, 5 euros / child. (2015)

Museo Ferrari (previously known as Galleria Ferrari) is a Ferrari company museum dedicated to the Ferrari sports car marque. The museum is not purely for cars; also on view are trophies, photographs and other historical objects relating to the Italian motor racing industry. The exhibition also introduces technological innovations, some of which had made the transition from racing cars to road cars.

It is located just 300 metres from the Ferrari factory in Ferrari's home town of Maranello, near Modena, Italy.

About Kimi Räikkönen, as you know, he is a Finnish Formula 1 driver and World Champion (2007) and such an Iceman, cool as James Bond.

Kimi Räikkönen

Ferrari Museo is located quite near our hotel.

Address: Via Dino Ferrari 43 – 41053 Maranello
Opening hours here

Little Agent Traveler posing near Ferrari

There is a wind tunnel outside of Ferrari Museo.

Ferrari Museo has many attractions for visitors.

VIDEO: Here you can hear Ferrari sounds

Ferrari Store and Bookshop:
Inside the Museum, there’s also a shop offering a wide range of official products, along with a bookshop where you can find the most important Ferrari publications.
See more information here.

Photo by: Ferrari Store

WARM-UP
Warm-Up is the Ferrari Merchandise Store in Maranello near by the Ferrari Museum, where you can find everything about Ferrari and its world.

Next to Ferrari Museo is PushStart, where you can take a tour and test drive the Ferraris, see the price list here.

Next to PushStart is Bar Ristorante Driver Maranello.

We also found this Lunch Café Bar near the parking area. Oh, James!

In the evening we had our dinner in Carisma Pizzeria Ristorante. Pizzas 7 euros each, Coca Cola 3,50 euros, water 2,50 euros, Pannacotta Caramello 4 euros, Tiramisu 4 euros, and service fee 6 euros.