Enzo Ferrari was born on February 20, 1898 in Modena. In another era, in an Italian context that is radically different from the current one. His career in the world of motoring is now considered legendary, and thanks to his small and big manias, behind dark glasses, his figure is still enormously respected today, many years after his death in 1988. In view of his birthday we retrace together some moments of his life and observe different angles of his character through the words of those who really knew him. Because it is also thanks to him that the Prancing Horse is so madly loved all over the world today.
Romolo Tavoni (in the cover image, with a dark sweater, on the right) was the private secretary of Enzo Ferrari. He began his first career as a banker, working at Credito Italiano in Modena. In January 1950, the bank manager introduced him to Ferrari. They hit it off. Shortly after this meeting, Tavoni made his entrance to Maranello and became one of the symbolic personalities of the Scuderia in the first years of the brand’s history. From 1950 to 1956 he was the main collaborator of Enzo Ferrari, and subsequently – from 1957 to 1961 – he held the position of sporting director of the racing team. Tavoni died in December 2020, at the age of 94.
Boards he was considered the right hand of the founder of the Casa del Cavallino, with a clear idea of how he managed to create one of the most renowned companies on the planet today. For him Ferrari he was a man who was able to exploit every affair in his favor, even those that seemed difficult to reverse. Here’s how she described it:
“Enzo Ferrari was a great communicator. Among the employees we said he was a rattlesnake charmer. He has always shown that he is skilled in managing the company, also and above all because his intention was to give Maranello a future. He found continuity thanks to Fiat. And it was also thanks to the refinement, kindness and intelligence of the lawyer Giovanni Agnelli, if he found the path of continuity. If it hadn’t been for Fiat, would Ferrari still have this great consensus, this great sympathy, this contact with people? From an industrial point of view it produces thousands of cars and sells them all, they have orders for months. And even if the Gestione Sportiva doesn’t win the championships, people continue to like Ferrari as a whole. One day I said to Ferrari: “Commendatore, in Modena Ferrari is 50% admired and 50% not considered. Because?” He replied: “Because success does not lead to emulation, it gives envy“. This was his way of seeing“.
Tavoni’s testimony is taken from a round table held in Milan on April 18, 1998, to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Enzo Ferrari, coordinated by Alessandro Colombo, personal assistant of Enzo Ferrari in the early seventies and sporting director of the Scuderia Ferrari in 1973, immediately after Peter Schetty and before Luca Cordero di Montezemolo.
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