Hollywood, Horsepower and Parmigiano Fuel the Ultimate Venice Side Quest
Hollywood, Horsepower and Parmigiano Fuel the Ultimate Venice Side Quest
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'Game Recognize Game':
Uniting the Biggest Names in Hollywood With the Athletes They Admire Most
By Melinda Sheckells Plus Icon
Melinda Sheckells
Contributor
September 2, 2026 11:59am
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Museo Enzo FerrariCourtesy of Museo Enzo Ferrari
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During the production of Michael Mann’s Ferrari in Modena, Patrick Dempsey called down to chef Jessica Rosval at Casa Maria Luigia around midnight with one question: “What are we having for dinner?” Pizza followed, served by the pool. That collision of major celebrity, fast cars and delicious food makes Emilia-Romagna the ideal post-Venice pitstop for auto- film lovers.
Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini have home bases within roughly an hour’s drive of one another, and the films about their founders returned to the same cities and countryside. Mann’s Ferrari, which premiered at Venice in 2023, was filmed largely in Modena. Bobby Moresco shot parts of Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend around Bologna and Pieve di Cento, then returned to Bologna and Modena for Maserati: The Brothers, starring Al Pacino and Anthony Hopkins. Producer Andrea Iervolino connects all three films.
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From Venezia Santa Lucia, a high-speed train reaches Bologna in about 90 minutes. Begin at the Fountain of Neptune, whose trident inspired the emblem Mario Maserati designed for the company, first used in 1926. Stay at I Portici Hotel Bologna, a short walk from Bologna Centrale, inside the historic Maccaferri Palace. Its Michelin-starred restaurant occupies the restored Eden Theater, an 1899 café-chantant with its intact Liberty-style frescoes.
The Automobili Lamborghini Museum in Sant’Agata Bolognese is about 40 minutes away. Its collection ranges from the Miura and Countach to contemporary hybrids, while VIP tours take visitors onto the production lines. Ferruccio Lamborghini grew up in nearby Renazzo, and Bologna and Pieve di Cento supplied locations for Moresco’s film.
In Modena, check into Casa Maria Luigia, Massimo Bottura and Lara Gilmore’s country house and a discreet base during the filming of Ferrari. Bottura says the movie’s stars stayed there and later shared photos of Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz and others at the property. His relationship with Ferrari began long before Hollywood arrived. As boys, he and his brother heard the cars at Modena’s circuit on the way to school and climbed a wall to watch. “If I pick Ferrari, it’s because I grew up with that,” he says.
Guests can play records from Bottura’s collection of thousands of albums, find snacks and desserts in the communal kitchen, take a Pasta Studio class ending in a shared lunch and explore the garage “toy chest.” The estate acetaia holds more than 1,400 barrels, while breakfast is designed to recall the Christmas mornings of Bottura’s childhood. “We call it casa because it’s home,” he says.
At the Museo Enzo Ferrari, The Greatest Hits — Music Legends and Their Ferraris brings together Herbert von Karajan’s 250 GT Lusso, Eric Clapton’s one-off SP12, J Balvin’s 512 TR and Swizz Beatz’s SF90 XX. It runs through Feb. 16, 2027.
The Umberto Panini Maserati Collection unites both obsessions on the Hombre dairy farm, where historic Trident cars share the grounds with Parmigiano Reggiano production. End in the Castelvetro hills at Cleto Chiarli, the family winery founded in 1860, for a tour and tasting devoted to the region’s Lambrusco.
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