Enzo Ferrari

Enzo Anselmo Ferrari was a great racing driver, designer and entrepreneur.

The world-famous Ferrari name, shared by the car manufacturer and its racing team, has long been synonymous with success and the extraordinary speeds that bring victory. Yet the world would never have known it without the company’s founder: Italian designer, entrepreneur and racing driver Enzo Anselmo Ferrari, born in Modena on 18 February 1898.

Enzo’s father was a successful metalworker, so the family was comfortably off. His workshop occupied the ground floor of their two-storey house, and the sound of hammers accompanied Enzo throughout his childhood.

During his compulsory military service, Enzo became gravely ill. The medical staff were astonished when the young man somehow made a seemingly miraculous recovery.

Ferrari entered motor racing in 1919, making his debut in the Parma–Berceto race. The following year, Alfa Romeo hired him as a test driver. He stayed for a long time, giving the company twenty years of his life and progressing from driver to head of its Alfa Racing division. His work at Alfa Romeo did not prevent him from founding his own sporting club in his home town in 1929: Scuderia Ferrari, or ‘Ferrari Stable’, with the aim of later establishing a racing team and organising motor races.

Ferrari began his own vehicle production with racing cars, which soon earned worldwide recognition. These were followed by sports cars, both two-seaters and models with 2+2 seating.

Ferrari became a master of astonishment. Beautiful, fast sports cars already existed, and luxurious Rolls-Royces had become a hallmark of millionaires. But nobody before him had combined sporting elegance, breathtaking speed, comfort and splendour and raised them to a level beyond the reach not only of ordinary millionaires but even of the global elite.

Enzo was married to only one woman throughout his life. He carefully concealed his sole mistress, Lina, from her, although his second family was an open secret to those around him. Lina entered his life before the birth of his son within his marriage. Dino’s birth brought the Ferrari family no joy: from childhood, he was doomed by the torment of muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis. He died in 1956, aged just 24. After his wife’s death, Ferrari could unite with his second family, where his son Piero was growing up. Piero took his father’s surname and became his heir. Enzo nevertheless had serious doubts about his son’s leadership qualities, considering him as meek and uncomplaining as his mother, who had spent almost her entire life as a mistress without demanding anything in return. Time showed that Ferrari’s doubts were not unfounded.

His mother was the only person Enzo Ferrari truly feared. Even after achieving worldwide fame, he remained afraid of her. She lived to witness the height of his success and took pride in her son without excessive displays of enthusiasm.

Ferrari rarely watched races in person, preferring television coverage and telephone reports from the circuits.

Like many exceptional people, he had his eccentricities. Throughout his life he used only a fountain pen filled with violet ink. He suffered from a fear of flying and avoided aeroplanes; his terror of confined spaces meant that he never used lifts, always taking the stairs. He missed no opportunity to torment visitors, regardless of their position or social standing, making them wait for hours even when he was not busy. Once they finally passed through his office’s heavy doors, they encountered an unpleasant gloom. In the dim lamplight, only a portrait of his son, who had died young, was initially visible. Only afterwards did they notice the owner himself, seated behind his desk with his eyes concealed by dark glasses.

When Enzo realised that he could not leave his life’s work in reliable hands, he decided to sell 40% of his shares to Fiat and bequeath another 50% to the same company upon his death. The remaining 10% was reserved for his descendants to ensure their financial comfort.

His ninetieth birthday was especially memorable: three days after the celebrations, a grandson was born and named after him.

Six months later, on 14 August 1988, Ferrari’s founder died. Enzo Anselmo Ferrari was buried the following day in a very modest funeral, without an elaborate mourning procession through the streets of Modena.