Enzo Ferrari: His dislike for Italy’s national summer holiday, his quiet farewell and final joke on journalists. 36 years ago, on August 14, 1988, the founder of Ferrari passed away.

August 14, 1988
In an interview with Italian daily newspaper La Stampa on February 17, 1973, Enzo Biagi asked Enzo Ferrari, “How would you like to be remembered?” The Drake was blunt: “I would prefer silence. If I could, I would say: forget me. What I did, I did only for myself, and if anyone benefited from it, well, that was just an unintended consequence. The starting point was entirely personal.” Ferrari portrayed his company as the fulfillment of a teenage fantasy, the satisfaction of a fierce selfishness. No beating around the bush.

And in silence, he chose to depart, in the late afternoon of Sunday, August 14, 1988, on the eve of that Ferragosto (Italy’s national summer holiday) that he decidedly disliked: “It’s the day of the year I hate the most. Even I am forced not to go to the office on August 15. Anyway, I wouldn’t find anyone there.” This was confirmed by Luca Cordero di Montezemolo: “Enzo hated vacations; in August, he kept me in the office, he couldn’t stand people going on vacation.” – the former Ferrari president admitted.

Ferrari never took vacations. At 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 or to put ideas that came to him during the day in question.

The ‘Commendatore’ was 90 years old and had long planned his exit. He left a piece of paper with his last wishes in a drawer of his bedside table, written in his characteristic purple ink. The news of his death was announced only after the funeral had taken place, on the morning of August 15, after 8 a.m. The funeral was held in strict privacy, attended only by family and closest friends. Then came the burial, in the family chapel at the San Cataldo cemetery in Modena, next to his son Dino.

Newspapers Caught Off Guard
His love/hate relationship with journalists was perfectly encapsulated in his passing: given the peculiar timing and his wishes, newspapers could not report the news until Wednesday, August 17, 1988, due to Ferragosto.

Corriere della Sera headlined, on the side, “Ferrari, the Discreet Death of a Legendary Italian.” La Gazzetta dello Sport dedicated its front page: “Ferrari, Goodbye in Silence,” as did Stadio: “Enzo Ferrari Has Stopped”, Autosprint: “Goodbye Drake” and Tuttosport: “The Whole World Mourns Ferrari.”

A quiet farewell and a final joke on the journalists: everything about Enzo Ferrari is captured in his last moments.