Museo Enzo Ferrari in Modena has just revealed its 2026 exhibition, named Greatest Hits and celebrating the famous musicians who’ve owned or made use of Ferraris over the years.
As ever, the museum – which is adjoined to the very house in which Enzo was born on 18 February, 1898 – held the official opening on the anniversary of the Ferrari founder’s birth. We were there for the occasion, attended by VIPs as varied as the mayor of Modena and famed American jazz singer and musician Curtis Stigers.
Of course the cars were still the stars though, and the selection includes many of the cars owned by the featured musicians plus a few to represent their cars when necessary. Some will rotate throughout the year, as availability of the cars changes – not all the musicians could bear to be parted from their cars for the full year.
The selection is wonderfully varied, from a Mondial to a 250 GTO, as are the artists featured. Jay Kay’s very own green LaFerrari stands out in the centre of the display, with the full-size styling clay created for Eric Clapton’s one-off 2012 SP12 EC close by. Rapper and producer Swizz Beatz has allowed his SF90 XX Stradale to be displayed fresh from the factory, and Alicia Keys will be doing the same shortly.
There are surprises too: did you know that Cher raced a 250LM or that Luciano Pavarotti owned an F40? A later arrival to the display will be a 308 GTS connected to Kate Bush, which is equally unexpected, and we’d completely forgotten that Madonna featured a Mondial QV in her Material Girl video, also represented in the Greatest Hits display.
Other star cars include the 288 GTO (Mick Jagger), 330 GT 2+2 (John Lennon), 275 GTS (Italian singer-songwriter Gino Paoli), 275 GTB4 (Miles Davis), 250 GT California Spyder (Maria Del Monaco), 250 GT (Maria Callas), 250 GT Lusso (Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan), F1 2001 (Singaporean singer-songwriter JJ Lin) and 12Cilindri (Taiwanese singer-songwriter Jay Chou).
Of course Pink Floyd’s very own petrolhead Nick Mason has to be represented too, with a blue 250 GTO that very clearly isn’t his own rosso car, but that’s a welcome sight all the same.
Each car sits on a plinth, some higher than others, with red lighting under the cars. This works particularly well for the 288 GTO sitting on one of the higher plinths to show off the famously exposed transmission at its rear.
A podcast-style narration is also available for each car via headsets given out at the entrance to the museum, or there’s the option to enter the small cinema room to listen to the podcasts together as a family or group. There’s also a jukebox on which tunes from the chosen artists can be selected.
Museum director Michele Pignatti explained that how the museum came to be established next to the Ferrari family home: ‘Enzo Ferrari was born here, on the first floor,’ he said. ‘He sold it when he had to buy a car, 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, and so it also included Maserati and Ducati, but Ferrari took over the museum in 2014 and since then it’s been growing.’
The futuristic building that houses the major exhibitions is supplemented by a display of Ferrari engines in the adjacent historic building adjoining Enzo’s house. It’s not large by museum standards, but it’s beautifully laid out and includes a simulator room and the inevitable gift shop, which sells items from the ever-growing Ferrari merchandise range, including several items unique to the museum.
Museo Enzo Ferrari is paired with the larger Museo Ferrari in nearby Maranello, next door to the factory, which concentrates more on the company’s racing history. Being less than 20 minutes’ drive from each other, it would be madness to visit one and not the other – and indeed, visitor numbers in 2025 across the two were over 900,000. The aim for 2026 is to reach 1 million.
We already know that the Museo Enzo Ferrari display for 2027, opening on 18 February of course, will celebrate 80 years of Ferrari.
For more information, visit the Museo Enzo Ferrari website.
