Every year on February 18, the Museo Enzo Ferrari in Modena marks the anniversary of the great man’s birth by revealing a new annual exhibition.
This year it’s Greatest Hits, celebrating the cars of a selection of huge stars and musicians. It’s beautifully laid out, with podcast-style audio to explain each car.
“Visitors can listen to the podcasts, where we explain everything, which is very one to one between the car and the person,” Ferrari’s head of museums Michele Monaro told us at the opening. “But families are extremely important for us, and that’s why in the cinema room there, we have a juke box where you can actually choose the singer and the podcast, and you listen to the podcast as a family experience.”
Not all are the actual cars belonging to the stars in question, though many are, and the display will change through the year as cars are returned or leant to the museum. After all, no-one would want to be separated from their Ferrari all year would they?
Jay Kay’s green LaFerrari is the real thing, while the most obvious ‘representative’ exhibit is the blue 250 GTO representing Nick Mason’s famous red example. But that doesn’t reduce the impact of the line-up, with many big names and a few surprises: did you know that Cher raced a 250LM? Or that Luciano Pavarotti owned an F40?
Other star cars include 288 GTO (Mick Jagger), 330 GT 2+2 (John Lennon), 275 GTS (Gino Paoli), 275 GTB4 (Miles Davis), 250 GT California Spyder (Maria Del Monaco), 250 GT (Maria Callas), 250 GT Lusso (Herbert von Karajan), SF90 XX Stradale (Swizz Beatz), F1 2001 (JJ Lin)12Cilindri (Jay Chou), a Mondial to represent one of the cars used in a Madonna video, and the full-size styling clay created for Eric Clapton’s one-off 2012 SP12 EC.
Museo Enzo Ferrari is relatively small but perfectly formed, adjoining the house that Enzo was born in, with an extra section showcasing historic Ferrari engines within the house. It’s a great exhibition, worth seeing along with the larger Museo Ferrari in Maranello, next to the factory.
“Enzo Ferrari was born here, on the first floor,” says Michele Monaro. “In the States, they would have made a monument but instead it the house was just left here because he [Enzo] sold it when he had to buy a car and and it still belongs to the owner that bought the house from Enzo Ferrari. In 2012 a foundation was created and opened this museum to celebrate Motor Valley. Ferrari took over the museum in 2014 and since then it’s been growing.”
In fact, between the two museums, visitors numbers in 2025 were over 900,000, and the aim is to reach 1 million for 2026. And the display for next February 18? All the museum is saying at the moment is that it will be extra special, to celebrate 80 years of Ferrari.
For more information, visit the Museo Enzo Ferrari website.
