Why We Visited the Lamborghini Factory

For years, my husband, Sigurd, has spoken with stars illuminating his baby blues of visiting the one and only Lamborghini factory located in northern Italy.  Usually this would be after a few glasses of wine during our precious alone conversations after our son had gone to sleep.

But this wasn’t just a guy who wanted to see some cars.  Sigurd is a man who loves cars.  I don’t mean enjoys them.  He LOVES them.  He will purchase a car that he has admired and studied for years and by then, he knows that car inside and out.  When he was a little boy, he would dissect his toys to figure out how they worked.  He did the same as a “grown up” when he purchased his first exotic car, the Lotus Espirit. I personally have witnessed him speak with such depth of knowledge of vehicles that the men who actually made the cars have been impressed.

And Sigurd takes such gentle care of his vehicles.  When he sells one he has owned for ten years, I swear it is as if it was just driven off the dealership lot.

When Sigurd and I had been married a few years, he purchased his first Lamborghini.  It was shiny and yellow with silky black leather, precisely the colors a Lamborghini should be.  And we had SO much fun in it.  He and I spent a lot of quality time putzing around in it, and we even joined his brother and his Norwegian (!) motorcycle tour on part of their journey along Route 66.

My stepdaughter, Nikki, and Sigurd also had a tremendous amount of quality time in the car, and he was (not surprisingly) a junior high celeb when picking her up from school in it.

But when we had our son, Espen, both Sigurd and I were working a lot and the poor Lambo was reduced to a garage ornament.  He couldn’t really go anywhere with a five-month-old in the front seat without me, and when Nikki was with us, we needed a four-seater.  So Sigurd sold the beauty, knowing it wouldn’t be his last.

So when I began planning our Italian trip, I knew the Lamborghini Factory had to be included in our plans.  Naturally, I began researching like a lunatic where to stay, eat, and how to get there.  So here is the info on how we enjoyed the factory and area around it!

What the Tour Entailed

On the second day of our special visit to La Vedetta in Castelvetro di Modena, we embarked on the tour I had previously booked of the Lamborghini Factory.  This is something you must do VERY far in advance.  Not only do you need to ensure your visit in the area falls on a day they are actually open, but you want to make sure you have the energy to truly appreciate it.   After the AMAZING authentic parmigiano reggiano factory tour you can read about here, we decided to go ahead and head directly to the town of the Lamborghini Factory, Sant’Agata Bolognese, about thirty minutes away from the Hombre Farm.  We arrived around 11:30 am, and began searching restaurant reviews online.  Most restaurants in Italy don’t open until noon for lunch, and the one we decided on was no different.  So we parked our car and got out and walked around a bit.  Not much to see, but it was good to stretch our legs.

Da Taiadela Ristorante got excellent reviews online.  As most pointed out, the exterior was nothing spectacular to look at, but it was a fantastic experience I’m so glad we didn’t miss.  Da Taiadela specializes in authentic Bolognese cuisine.  After our initial waitress apologetically but sweetly passed us on to the owner who spoke perfect British English, we ordered her recommended typical Bolognese appetizers and meals.  We began with Polpette, typical meatballs in a special sauce of their own.  After the first couple bites, Sigurd and I remarked simultaneously that it reminded us of Norwegian food!  Interesting to be smack dab in the middle of Italy.  But the appetizer was reminiscent of Norwegian sauerkraut and all of the food boastfully lacked the bright red tomato influence common in the rest of Italy.  Instead it had a deeper, earthy warmth that was a refreshing change.  I’m a huge fan of tomato and Sigurd is not.  So not surprisingly, this was probably Sigurd’s favorite meal we had in Italy.

Whether it’s your favorite meal in Italy or not, I definitely recommend this place to be able to say you’ve tasted true Bolognese food!

 

And then….the LAMBORGHINI FACTORY!

Lamborghini has two major components, the museum and the production line.  The museum is open April 1 through October 31 from 9:30 am to 7:00 pm and November 1 – March 31 from 9:30 am to 6:00 pm.  The museum itself was something gorgeous to behold, and its entrance fee was included in our Production Line Tour purchase price.  While we were there, the museum had introduced Film Emotions, an exhibit showcasing iconic Lamborghinis that have been featured in well-known cinemas along with the key models from Lamborghini’s earliest editions to present time.

The Lamborghini Factory is a true, surprisingly immaculately clean, working factory.  As a result, they are only open Monday through Friday, during actual production hours.  The Lamborghini Production Line tour is substantially more expensive than the museum alone, but it is SO worth it.

After an hour exploring the museum, we wandered to the meeting point where all participants in the tour were instructed to go.  We were each given personal radio devices so the tour guide’s voice was heard loud and clear as we walked through the museum.  We were given the rules and overview of the tour, and we headed down a sidewalk to the main entrance of the factory. Even I felt butterflies as the doors opened to the factory.  There are several models of Lamborghini in production at a given time, and you have the opportunity to see all of them on the tour.  You walk along a crystal clean path to see the production stages of each model of vehicle, get to touch certain materials, and you watch individual Lamborghinis be created right before your eyes!  The most exciting part for me was hearing a sparkly new Lamborghini start its engine for the very first time.   As it rumbled to life, it sounded so deep, so powerful.  And dare I say it?  SO SEXY!  Chills covered my body and I couldn’t help but imagine what its life would entail, which curves of the Italian countryside it would hug, which love birds would laugh with the top down as it toured the Amalfi Coast.  It felt like a privilege to be here at that moment.  And we would it remember it forever!

There are no pictures allowed inside the factory, but trust me when I say I held my breath many times.  I received many smiles from the engineers putting the cars together when our eyes locked, as they seemed to know I KNEW how special what they were doing was. As I tightly held Espen’s hand to ensure we didn’t “break the factory,” they looked lovingly and acceptingly upon us.  I’m sure they understood it’s possible to become desensitized to their heavenly job, but I. Was. Not.

The trip to the Lambo Factory was a dream come true for Sigurd, and I’m so glad I was able to arrange it and experience it with him!  Even if you don’t think you love cars, you have to go here. There is something so gorgeous and special being able to see the inner workings of some of the world’s most beautifully  engineered vehicles.  The Italians do beauty right, and cars are no exception. For information on booking factory tours or purchasing museum tickets, visit their website here.  And for magical place to stay, check out my post on our heavenly B&B here.

Let me know if you have any questions or additional suggestions for visiting the area!

XOXO

Elisha