ULTIMATE EVOLUTION

In the 75 years s ince i ts cars f irst rol led out of the factor y in Maranello, Ferrari has pushed the envelope relentlessly. The latest hybrid-powered 296 GTB is a case in point – and one of i ts greatest ever.

- JON WALL

Stretching the length of the ancient Via Aemilia trunk road, from Piacenza in the northwest to the resort town of Rimini on the Adriatic coast, the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna is one of the most fortunate in a country widely held to be the embodiment of la dolce vita. This blessed area is the home of glorious old cities such as Parma, Modena, Bologna, Imola and Forli, and the heartland of gastronomic traditions that brought us balsamic vinegar, the finest prosciutto, Parmigiana Reggiano cheese and fizzy lambrusco wine, not to mention the likes of Modenese chef Massimo Bottura, whose Osteria Francescana has twice been voted the world's best restaurant. It's a hotbed of learning, the arts and culture: the universities of Bologna and Modena were founded in 1088 and 1175 respectively; Verdi, Toscanini and Pavarotti were born here, as were the filmmakers Antonioni, Bertolucci, Fellini and Pasolini.

Such notable accomplishments would surely be sufficient for any corner of the planet, but over-achieving Emilia-Romagna can claim another distinction: it's the location of Italy's "motor valley", an area extending roughly from Parma to Imola on that same arrow-straight Roman highway, which has developed into an extraordinary aggregation of automotive expertise. Along this 150km axis, Maserati, Lamborghini and Pagani, the motorcycle manufacturer Ducati, the racing-car builder Dallara and undisputedly the greatest- - Ferrari all set up shop, the latter's small factory in the Modenese village of Maranello mushrooming and eventually exploding in size to become a vast hub of high-tech excellence and ingenuity, one that today is responsible for what are almost certainly the most exciting and dynamically accomplished automobiles produced anywhere on Earth (not to forget building the cars that have won more Formula 1 races than any other constructor since 1950 - and by a considerable margin).