Monument to EF

In the monument to Enzo Ferrari by sculptor Marino Quartieri, Ferrari’s life story is told in concentric panels, as in the celebratory columns of Ancient Rome. Enzo Ferrari’s passion for motorsports originated when he was just ten years of age: he was in the crowd at a race on the Bologna circuit and it was love at first sight. Therefore, after the Great War he decided to try his luck in Turin. He wanted to work for FIAT, but his application was rejected, so he started out as a test driver at a small company that built “Torpedo” vehicles, and then moved to Costruzioni Meccaniche Nazionali in Milan.

He made his debut as a racing driver in 1919, in the Parma – Poggio di Berceto hill climb. Those years saw the start of his twenty-year association with Alfa Romeo, where he was to work both as driver and as manager of the racing team. It was in partnership with Alfa Romeo that Enzo Ferrari founded the Scuderia Ferrari in Modena in 1929, adopting aviator Francesco Baracca’s Prancing Horse symbol. However, it was not until 1939 that he bade farewell to Alfa and opened his own factory: Auto Avio Costruzioni, the predecessor of today’s Ferrari. Once he had moved his company from Modena to Maranello and the War was over, Enzo Ferrari was ready to make his dream come true and introduce his red cars to the world. The first to leave the Via Abetone plant was the Spyder 125 S, in 1947.

The rest is history.