Bologna = Bikes

We farewelled Sorrento and headed to bike heaven for Nick known as Bologna to everyone else. Typically the sun was shining on Mt Vesuvius and Pompeii as the train slid past but Pompeii, Nick couldn’t care less about Pompeii today – he was totally in the zone and his mind was fixed firmly on the bikes.

We didn’t book much in this last leg of our travels but I did book us into the tour – as a surprise – am I not the best wife ever! The tour itself was free however they only operate on set days, at set times with limited numbers so it was just lucky that the heavens aligned all the factors for this to occur.

After a long train trip and yep you guessed it another night in a hotel just around the hotel from another Sexy World , anyone would think we were taking a porn tour of Europe, we caught the bus from the centre of town and headed out to the factory.

We were early. Not just “let’s catch a quick coffee before we go in”early but a “I am frozen to my bones” from waiting in the snow kind of early. Still after the stuff up at Catalunya GP I indulged Nick’s desire for us to be overly early for the tour – he is not a fan of my maximum time efficiency plan even though the stuff up was him forgetting the tickets.

The city itself was bland and looked to have been covered in silt. Grey housing commissioned architecture surrounded the factory and it was depressing. Yet we knew the mood was going to lift as soon as we walked through those doors.

Killing time with biscuits

As the time for our tour approached we walked towards the factory where Nick strained his neck to watch the test crew trucks leave the depot excitedly yelling out the names of the riders on the trucks in case I had become illiterate on the walk to the factory.

Once inside we were greeted by a GORGEOUS italian women who obviously loved her job, had a mindblowing knowledge of bikes, not a single question stumped her and she also rode a Ducati – all the men were in love. We were in a group with 2 other Aussies and some other people I can’t recall. The tour guide was very excited to have Australians on the tour and repeatedly told us how much she loved Casey Stoner.

The tour began in the museum which I think was a great way to start. Learning about the history of the company really gives the visitor an appreciation of how phenomenal this company is. Ducati actually began making radios and it wasn’t until the war broke out that they began making engines. The first engine was actually fitted to a bike.

The tour twisted through the displays and at each turn Nick’s jaw dropped a little further as they presented us with the company’s achievements right up till the awesome race machines of today. Every major winner and all winning GP bikes were on display and the temptation to just sit on one for 1 second I could see was killing Nick.

After we had got our history fix we were actually invited to go through a tour of the factory and for this part the cameras had to be put away. I didn’t really have a picture in my mind of what I was going to see but the factory was spotless, meticulously clean and apart from the testing of parts almost silent.

Each bike is assembled by hand {by gorgeous  mostly male mechanics}. There are individual workstations for staff and each staff member signs off on the part they assemble so that if something goes wrong they know who to fire. Each staff member specialises in one area but they must know how to assemble an entire bike themselves. 

Aurelia cheeky as ever was all smiles for the mechanics and kept yelling “Ciao”. This got LOTS of smiles (Nick insisted on carrying her I think hoping to use her as a way to get closer to the assembly line) and “Ciao Bella”. Raya then took her charm up a notch by yelling out her version of DOO-KAR-TI. She was pretty adorable.

As we walked past the Racing Division we were allowed a sneak peek in the window – which showed nothing- and informed that only a limited number of people have the code to enter that section of the factory. This did not include our tour guide. Guess they are keeping their secrets close to their chest. Currently 100 people are employed in the race section.

Overall the tour was great. For people who love bikes, it would be mindblowing – it certainly seemed to be for Nick and the other aussie male in our group. I was really surprised that they kept the tour free because I am sure people would pay for the experience we had.

If you are in Bologna it is worth checking out – just make sure you don’t mention the name Valentino Rossi on your visit.