August 14, 1988
In an interview with The Press of February 17, 1973, Enzo Biagi asked Enzo Ferrari: “How would you like to be remembered?“. The Drake was drastic: “I would prefer silence, if I could I would say: forget me. What I did, I did only for myself, and if someone benefited from it, fine, but it was only an unforeseen consequence. The starting point was a completely personal matter”. Ferrari presented his company as the realization of an adolescent fantasy, the satisfaction of a ferocious selfishness. Without mincing words.
And silently he chose to leave, in late afternoon of Sunday 14 August 1988. On the eve of that Ferragosto which he definitely didn’t like: “It’s the day of the year I hate the most. Even I am forced not to go to the office on August 15th. I wouldn’t find anyone there anyway.“. Luca Cordero di Montezemolo also confirmed it: “Enzo hated holidays, he kept me in the office in August, he couldn’t stand people going on holiday”.
Ferrari had never taken a holidayat most he would allow himself half a day in Viserba, on the Adriatic, but before returning home he would stop by the company, for a check-up or to write down ideas he had had during the day.
The Commendatore was 90 years old and had been planning his exit for some time. He left a sheet of paper with his last will in a drawer of the bedside table, written in his characteristic purple ink. The news of his death was therefore given only after the funeral, on August 15th after 8 am. The funeral was held in a strictly private manner, with only relatives and close friends present. Then the burial, in the family chapel of the cemetery of San Cataldo, in Modena, next to his son Dino.
Newspapers caught off guard
The love/hate relationship with journalists became sublimated with his disappearance: given the particularity of the date and his wishes, The newspapers could not report the news until Wednesday, August 17, 1988.given the middle of August.
The Evening Courier he titled, on the shoulder, “Ferrari, the discreet death of an Italian legend“. The Sports Gazette he dedicated the opening to him: “Ferrari, a silent farewell“, as well as Stadium: “Enzo Ferrari has stopped“, Autosprint: “Goodbye Drake” And Allsports: “The whole world mourns Ferrari”.
A silent farewell and a final prank on journalists: his exit is all Enzo Ferrari.
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