Museo Ferruccio Lamborghini

The museum at Funo di Argelato is devoted to the whole of Ferruccio Lamborghini's industry, not only the cars that made his name. Tractors, grand tourers, a helicopter prototype and an offshore racing boat fill a vast hall beside Bologna, telling the story of an industrialist who built, and later sold, two companies.

Why it matters

Opened by his son Tonino Lamborghini, the museum gathers the span of Ferruccio Lamborghini's manufacturing career, from the tractor that launched his first company to the grand tourers and racing machines of later decades. The collection tells the story of an industrialist who shaped agricultural machinery and automotive design.

What to notice

The collection is arranged around Ferruccio's industrial life. The story starts with the Carioca, the experimental tractor publicly unveiled in 1948, among agricultural machines that helped build his first company. The car lineup includes models from the 1950s to the 1970s, including the Espada, Jarama, Urraco and Countach. The museum also preserves a helicopter prototype, a thirteen-and-a-half-metre offshore racing boat powered by a Lamborghini engine, and a family photographic archive documenting the industrialist's life.

Context and history

The museum's history traces the arc of Ferruccio Lamborghini's industry. He presented the experimental Carioca tractor in February 1948, bought a former racetrack field and founded Trattori Lamborghini, which grew to produce hundreds of tractors annually. At the end of 1962 he announced plans to build cars, recruiting engineers Gian Paolo Dallara and Giotto Bizzarrini. The company opened in autumn 1963 at Sant'Agata Bolognese and presented the 350 GT as its first production car, adopting the bull as its emblem. The Miura followed in 1966 and became a design landmark. Lamborghini sold the majority of the car company in 1972 and the tractor firm to SAME in 1973, retired to an Umbrian estate in 1974 and died in 1993. His son Tonino created the museum in 2014 to preserve the broader industrial story.