1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
Live TV
Latest audioLatest videos
In focus
Russia's war in UkraineIsrael-Hamas warIndia elections

You can test a Ferrari in Italy - but not over lunchtime

October 27, 2015

The northern Italian municipalities of Fiorano and Maranello, where Ferrari's race track and factory are found, have restricted the operating hours of rent-a-Ferrari businesses.

https://p.dw.com/p/1Guoj
International Motorshow in Paris, Copyright: picture alliance/dpa/CTK Photo/R. Fluger
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/CTK Photo/R. Fluger)

Ferrari enthusiasts can test drive their dream cars while visiting the home of the iconic Italian brand. Yet as more and more of them do, it has become a major nuisance for residents, as a local mayor told the newspaper "La Repubblica" on Monday (27.10.2015).

Authorities have banned test drives in Fiorano from 12:30 to 3 p.m., and after 7 p.m. Maranello's similar restrictions, enforced since 2010, were confirmed this month after a court rejected appeals against them.

The move came in reaction to the emergence of more than 10 supercar rental companies over the last six years, offering a growing number of visiting enthusiasts the chance to get behind the wheel of different models of Ferrari.

Local rent-a-Ferrari businesses are considering further appeals to a higher administrative court, the report said. Maja Corluka Valestri of car rental service Pit Lane claims her business suffers from the restrictions: "Americans, Brazilians, Germans, Finns come here: How can we tell them that lunchtime here lasts for two hours? We are losing many clients and the first to suffer will be our employees, unfortunately."

Prices at Valestri's company range from 70 euros ($77) for a 10-minute ride around town in a Ferrari 430 Spider, to 950 euros for five laps on a racetrack at the wheel of a 570-horsepower Ferrari 458 Challenge.

at/ak (dpa)