Toutes les Machines du Monde
Italy
Click on the photo for each museum to visit our photo page for that museum
Museums are arranged by rating
The Nicolis Museum, Villafranca di Verona, Italy ★★★★★
This museum is a real find, literally. It is a wonderful, wonderful collection displayed in a purpose built facility, and we just happened to see a billboard for it on our way to Verona. The museum shows off not only a wonderful group of automobiles, but also motorcycles, bicycles, photographic equipment and musical instruments. It is all the astonishing work of Italian tycoon Luciano Nicolis. The museum was opened in 2000 and should not be missed. As a visitor, the only drawback is that the new building isn’t nearly big enough to display these treasures to best advantage. The museum’s website shows even more car than were present at the time of our visit in 2011, so no doubt the displays will change over time. As with all my older photos, these images have been reworked to good advantage in 2020.
Museo Ferrari, Maranello, Italy ★★★★★
One of two Ferrari museums in the Modena area, this one is adjacent to the factory in Maranello and is the original Ferrari Musem. Some of the cars on display are in temporary exhibits, but most of the ones I’ve shown I believe to be part of the permanent collection. I've been to larger museums, but I have never seen more beautiful automobiles. The lighting is generally excellent and the spacing of the cars allows for full appreciation for them from varying angles. My passion is for the racing cars of the fifties and sixties and the photos reflect that, but if you like newer cars, there are plenty of them as well. The shark nosed 1961 1500 cc Grand Prix car pictured here is literally the first car I ever fell in love with as a fourteen year old holding the first copy of Road & Track magazine I’d ever seen. As museum visits go, it just doesn’t get any better than that.
We visited both Ferrari museums, Museo Ferrari in Maranello and Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari in Modena on consecutive days in October 2013. If you get to this area, be sure to see both of the Ferrari museums; you will not be disappointed. In 2020 I have reworked our photos from both museums using better software. In doing so I’ve been able to greatly improve the quality of the images as well as to salvage some photos I had felt were unusable before, thus adding to the number of photos shown. I have also been able to include identifying information for many of the photos.
Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari, Modena, Italy ★★★★★
The second of two Ferrari museums in the Modena area, this one tells the story of Enzo Ferrari’s life and the founding of Ferrari as a manufacturer. The cars on exhibit are shown as temporary exhibitions rather than as a permanent collection. The group of photos shown here are representative of the exhibit at the time of our visit. They are of Grand Prix cars between 1949 and 1994 said to have been selected on the basis of technical merit. The cars are gorgeous and the exhibit space is stunningly stylish, modern and well lit. Whatever cars might be on display during your visit, they will surely be well worth your time.
We visited both Ferrari museums, Museo Ferrari in Maranello and Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari in Modena on consecutive days in October 2013. If you get to this area, be sure to see both of the Ferrari museums; you will not be disappointed. In 2020 I have reworked our photos from both museums using better software. In doing so I’ve been able to greatly improve the quality of the images as well as to salvage some photos I had felt were unusable before, thus adding to the number of photos shown. I have also been able to include identifying information for many of the photos.
Ducati Motorcycle Museum, Bologna, Italy ★★★★
www.ducati.com/company/visit_us/index.do
This is a beautifully done museum featuring Ducati racing bikes from 1946 to the present. Ducati’s many trophies and World Championship winning bikes are displayed in all their glory. The museum can only be seen on a guided tour, which are available in various languages; reservations are required. Monday thru Friday tours include a tour of the adjacent Ducati factory, while Saturday tours are of the museum only. If you get a chance to visit, do make every effort to see the factory as well as the museum. Not surprisingly, photography is not permitted in the factory, but the tour is very interesting. A Ducati store and dealer are located on the premises. The website states correctly that on site parking is only available for Ducati motorcycles, but there is a large public parking lot nearby. We visited Ducati in 2013, but in 2020 I’ve gone back and reworked all of our photos to take advantage of better software to improve the pictures; as a result I've been able to increase the number of images displayed.
Italian National Automobile Museum, Turin, Italy ★★★★
Turin is the home of Fiat and qualifies as the Detroit of Italy, with a long history of automobile manufacturing. The museum is located in a modern building and has some very interesting display areas, particularly in the realm of providing background images for the cars. The vehicle collection itself is a bit spotty and might be considered less than stellar given the magnificance of Italy’s automotive heritage, but there are some lovely cars and the overall experience is quite good and very informative. Definitely recommended for a visit.
The museum's website is also very good and provides in depth information on most of the cars shown here. Being Italian, the museum is very stylish and the lighting is intentionally dramatic, with dark backgrounds and spotlit vehicles. Because of this I am particularly pleased with the results of my 2020 re-processing of the images from our 2011 visit. They are much clearer and more attractive now than they were originally and I’ve been able to include more of them for you to enjoy.
Mille Miglia Museum, Brescia, Italy ★★★★
www.museomillemiglia.it/defaulten.aspx
The Mille Miglia, a thousand mile road race around Italy, was run for thirty years until being halted after a fatal accident in 1957. It was organized by the Auto Club of Brescia and this museum pays homage to the great history of the race. The museum is housed in an old Monastery whose buildings date from the 15th to the 17th century. The collections consist of vehicles on loan and do not include the most famous cars, but the presentation and ambience are first rate, including life size blow ups of period photographs on the walls along with posters and detailed information on each race. The wonderful ambience of the exhibit space and the overall quality of the cars on display more than compensate for the lack of major factory exhibits from the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz. We visited Brescia in 2011, but in 2020 I’ve gone back and reworked all of our photos to take advantage of better software to improve the pictures; as a result I've been able to increase the number of images displayed.
Museo Tazio Nuvolari, Mantua, Italy ★★★
www.tazionuvolari.it/eng/index.html
Known as the “Flying Mantuan,” Nuvolari was almost certainly the greatest driver of the 20s and 30s; a time when brakes were ineffectual and sliding through the turns was the only way to both steer and slow the car. Today, this favorite son is remembered by a small but reverent museum in downtown Mantua, a town no traveler should miss in any event. Stop in to celebrate “The Flying Mantuan” when you’re there. The sense of occasion when visiting this museum far outweighs what little there is to photograph, and we do not have a separate photo page for this museum.
