Motor Valley FEST

Modena is a mid-sized city in Emilia-Romagna with a UNESCO-listed centre, a cathedral, a market, and an implausible concentration of automotive history within walking distance. The Enzo Ferrari Museum is here. Maserati was founded here. The road south to Maranello takes twenty minutes. Motor Valley Fest is the city leaning into all of this for four days at the end of May.

The 2026 edition is the eighth, running 28 to 31 May. The centrepiece is Best of Motor Valley in the Cortile d'Onore of the Military Academy — the courtyard of a working institution in the middle of the city, filled with supercars, historic machinery and motorcycles from Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, Pagani, Ducati and Dallara. The regional circuits participate too: Modena Autodrome, Imola, Misano and Varano de' Melegari. Thursday opens with an international conference at Teatro Storchi on technology, AI and sustainability in the automotive industry; the Innovation and Talent format connects students with engineers and executives across the following days.

The programme spreads across the entire city. Museums open their doors free of charge throughout the festival, which means the Enzo Ferrari Museum, the Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari and various brand collections are accessible without the usual entry cost. The Concours d'Elegance Trofeo Salvarola Terme runs on the final Sunday, 60 historic cars judged in the morning before arriving in Piazza Roma in front of the Ducal Palace for the awards in the afternoon. The majority of events across all four days are free to attend.

From Switzerland the A1 motorway south through Milan and into Emilia-Romagna puts Modena around two and a half hours from Zürich. The city itself is best navigated on foot or by bike. If the budget extends to a day either side, the Autodromo di Modena is open for track days on selected dates and Maranello is a short drive south — the Ferrari Museum there is the larger of the two.