ROARING 50s

These were years of fervent passion for motorsport and Modena, a place already a major hub that attracted the interest of drivers, artists, actors and aristocrats fascinated by the cars’ exclusivity and the rush of adrenalin generated by the masterpieces produced in the ‘Motor Valley’ before it had acquired the name.

The Aerautodromo di Modena opened on the 7th May 1950, to meet the need of local car manufacturers looking for a place to conduct their sporting and testing activities.

In the area between Via Emilia and Strada Formigina, the circuit hosted many sporting and club events, fine-tuning cars ahead of the most demanding competitions such as Grands Prix, Mille Miglia and Targa Florio, involving specialists and enthusiasts with a shared enjoyment of riding fast motorbikes and cars, supplemented by aviation activity.

With a collection of extraordinary images and hitherto unseen archive video content, the exhibition tells the story of the Modena circuit nicknamed ‘the little Indianapolis’ because of its then international prominence, due also to the frequent appearances of drivers, celebrities and the most popular brands of the time.

Besides the wealth of vintage content, visitors to the Enzo Ferrari Museum will have the chance to admire two iconic Ferraris: the 1948 166 MM, whose various versions from the 1950s onwards were tested before races on this very circuit in Modena, and the 1957 315 S, which completed its first tests on this track before winning the last Mille Miglia with Piero Taruffi.

For enthusiasts and the more nostalgic, the Ferrari Museum in Maranello invites local people to collect and share memories and photo-video material of the era that will also inform new generations about a part of the city’s past that is now a large public park named after Enzo Ferrari himself.

The exhibition will be open until October 2024.