By Riccardo Bianchini - 2019-11-09

Formerly known as Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari, the Enzo Ferrari Museum in Modena, northern Italy, is a transport museum dedicated to the founder of the world-famous automobile manufacturer Ferrari.

A few kilometers away from Modena, Ferrari also runs a second museum in Maranello, mainly focused on the racing history of the Scuderia Ferrari. While the Maranello museum is a must-see for sports car racing and Formula One enthusiast, the museum in Modena is mostly aimed at people interested in Ferrari’s production automobiles and iconic designs.

Bus transfer and combined tickets for both venues are available at the Enzo Ferrari Museum information desk.

Enzo Ferrari Museum Modena, the entrance hall. Photo © Riccardo Bianchini / Inexhibit

Aerial view of the Enzo Ferrari Museum in Modena. Photo © Cento29 / Gabriele Melloni & Stefano Paoli

The Enzo Ferrari Museum complex consists of two parts; a restored building, which once was the mechanical workshop of Enzo Ferrari’s father, Alfredo, and a new futuristic wing, shaped like a giant yellow automobile car hood, designed by British architectural firm Future Systems in collaboration with Italy’s Shiro Studio.

The visit to the museum begins in the Ferrari family’s home, where the Enzo Ferrari’s life and early career as a racing driver and industrialist are presented by the means of videos and multimedia exhibits, together with several iconic engines made by Ferrari.

The visit continues into the new building, where stories, protagonists, places, and competitions related to Ferrari and other renowned Italian automotive firms, such as Maserati and Alfa Romeo, are presented.

In the main pavilion, several sports and race automobiles, manufactured from the 1950s to the present, are on show installed on pedestals like sculptural artworks. Pieces from the Ferrari and FCA collections are displayed on a rotational basis, so to present an always different and novel permanent exhibition.

The Enzo Ferrari museum includes a cafeteria, and a book and gift shop.

A view of the lobby of the Enzo Ferrari Museum in Modena; on the right, a Ferrari-powered Arno XI high-performance hydroplane of the early 1950s. Photo © Riccardo Bianchini / Inexhibit

The architecture of the Enzo Ferrari Museum by Future System and Shiro Studio

As anticipated, the Enzo Ferrari Museum in Modena is constituted by two different buildings.

The first, in the typical north Italian country farm style, is the original construction where Enzo Ferrari’s father, Amedeo, started his mechanical business and where Enzo conceived his first, seminal automobile designs.

The second is a new, highly iconic building designed by London-based practice Future Systems (the office, headed by Jan Kaplický and Amanda Levete split in 2008).

Characterized by a peculiar yellow-colored, hood-shaped roof, the new building looks like it is “embracing” the old one and has been rapidly become one of the architectural symbols of the city of Modena.

Enzo Ferrari Museum, Modena, exterior view. Photo © Riccardo Bianchini / Inexhibit

Enzo Ferrari Museum, Modena, the Future Systems building, longitudinal section, ground floor plan, and cross-section.

The curved steel-and-glass facade of the museum and two views of the lobby.

The Ferrari automobiles gallery

In a single, undivided space, the new 6,000-square-meter / 65,500-square-foot building by Future System houses a permanent exhibition which presents some of the most important automobiles made by Ferrari, including many rare automobiles of the 1950s, Formula 1 automobiles, and more recent sports cars, such as a Ferrari Enzo.

The automobiles are presented as they were precious sculptures, like artworks isolated from one another and sometimes placed on a pedestal so to be fully appreciated in all their details. The interiors are painted almost exclusively in two colors, white and yellow, so to emphasize the color of the exposed cars, which are mainly painted in the famous Ferrari’s red. Perhaps not many know that Enzo Ferrari chose the yellow, not the red, for his firm’s logo because it is the official color of the city of Modena.

Internally, the museum occupies a single floor, gently sloped so to form a continuously descending and ascending path. The same space also features Maserati and Alfa Romeo automobiles, full-scale models, videos, drawings, and technical documents.

The automobile gallery, presenting vehicles, mockups, drawings, and video about some of the most iconic Italian sports cars manufactured by Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, and Fiat (now FDA) from the 1920s to the present day

On the occasion of the 2014 reopening, a new multimedia show was added; it consists of a giant video-projection – mapped on the whole internal surfaces of the hall, ceiling included – which spectacularly depicts the life of Enzo Ferrari through images and historical videos from the celebrated Istituto Luce film archive.

The building also includes a temporary exhibition room, a cafeteria, a video room, and a museum shop with a selection of Ferrari-branded products.

Alfa Romeo RL Targa Florio, 1924

A Ferrari 212 Export Fontana “Uovo”,1951; sold at a Sotheby’s auction for over $ 6 million in 2017, this one-off coachwork custom-made for count Giannino Marzotto is one of the most expensive Ferrari automobiles ever.

A Ferrari Enzo 12 cylinder mid-engine “supercar”, 2002.

Ferrari 275 GTB/4, 1966

An image of the multimedia show depicting Ferrari’s history.

The Enzo Ferrari gallery

While the exhibition in the new gallery is mainly focused on Ferrari’s cars, that in the old building, which was also Enzo Ferrari’s birthplace, is devoted to the company founder’s personal history.

The exhibition is housed in three small rooms and a large hall, where the first Ferrari’s family workshop was once located. The main exhibit is a large installation, consisting of many white ribs, where objects, videos and Ferrari’s memorabilia are shown.

Two views of the gallery located in the original workshop of the Enzo Ferrari family.

Update

In 2018, the Enzo Ferrari gallery was completely redesigned. It currently comprises an exhibition presenting some of the most important V8, V10 and V12 engines produced by Ferrari, as well as a photographic and video exhibition focused on Enzo Ferrari’s life.

The new exhibition presenting some of the most iconic Ferrari’s engines in the Enzo Ferrari house. Image courtesy of Ferrari S.p.A.

If not differently reported, all photographs © Riccardo Bianchini / Inexhibit