Today we visited the Ducati factory and museum. Since we’re riding a BMW, we had to find parking on the street and pay €30 each for the factory tour – if you’re riding a Ducati, you get to park in the reserved lot and the tour is apparently free! The tour was about an hour and was worth the price of entry. No pics allowed, so I can’t share images of the new limited edition Panigale – over the past month, they produced 500 hyperlight (i.e. lots of carbon fiber) bikes, and the last 2 were about to be shipped out. Sadly, we were not allowed access to the racing division, but everyone at Ducati is in high spirits since Andrea Dovizioso won the last 2 MotoGP premier class races. We were allowed to take pictures in the museum. The white backlighting shows off the bikes – each important model from their first post-war effort to the current World Superbike and MotoGP bikes – but hampers photography efforts.

Remember you can click on any photo to see it larger.

Nicky Hayden’s Ducati

Ducati Museum

Ducati Museum

Ducati’s first motorcycle produced

Ducati Museum

Ducati Museum

We learned that Ducati originally made radio components, calculators, and cameras. Their factory was destroyed by Allied bombs during WWII. After the war, the Ducati brothers realized that Italians no longer had money for the items they used to produce, but most people owned a bicycle. They turned their efforts to building an engine that could be attached to a bicycle, sold 1 million the first year, and the rest is history.

Now I want one! Good thing for Stephanie they don’t offer European delivery like Volvo, BMW, etc.

After leaving Ducati, we headed to the laundromat. While our clothes were washing, we wandered a bit more in old Bologna, finding the canals and some graffiti art.

Did you know there were canals in Bologna?

Did you know there were canals in Bologna?

Some graffiti was hard to tell what it was.

We think some of the ‘graffiti’ was commissioned.

We ended our time with a meal at Ristorante La Traviata which included rabbit/prosciutto pasta and sausage/artichoke pasta.  You really can’t go wrong with fresh pasta and good wine.

Tomorrow, we’re headed north.  Buona notte!

Bologna Graffiti

Bologna Graffiti

Bologna Graffiti

Bologna Graffiti

Bologna Graffiti