Ferruccio Lamborghini
Encyclopedia
Ferruccio Elio Arturo Lamborghini (April 28, 1916 – February 20, 1993) was an Italian
industrialist. Born to grape farmers from the comune
of Renazzo di Cento in the Emilia-Romagna
region, his mechanical know-how led him to enter the business of tractor
manufacturing in 1948, when he founded Lamborghini Trattori, which quickly became an important manufacturer of agricultural equipment in the midst of Italy's post-war economic reform. In 1959, he opened an oil heater
factory, Lamborghini Bruciatori, which later entered the business of producing air conditioning
equipment. In 1963, he most famously created Automobili Lamborghini
, a maker of high-end sports car
s. Lamborghini sold off many of his interests by the late 1970s, and retired to an estate in Umbria
, where he pursued winemaking
.
of the comune
of Cento
, in the Province of Ferrara
, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy
. According to his baptismal certificate, he was baptised four days later, on May 2. The young Lamborghini was drawn to the farming machinery rather than the farming lifestyle itself, and he studied at the Fratelli Taddia technical institute near Bologna
. In 1940, he was drafted into the Regia Areonautica Royal Italian Air Force, where he served as a mechanic at the Italian garrison on the island of Rhodes
[Rodi] territory of the Kingdom of Italy since 1911, after the Italian -Turkish war, becoming the supervisor of the vehicle maintenance unit. Lamborghini was taken prisoner when the island fell to the British at the end of the war in 1945, and was not able to return home until the next year. He married, but his wife died in 1947 while giving birth to his first child, a boy named Antonio.
in Pieve di Cento
. In his spare time, Lamborghini modified an old Fiat Topolino
he had purchased, the first of many that he would own over the years. He made use of his mechanical abilities to transform the homely city car
into a roaring 750-cc open-top two-seater, and entered the car in the 1948 Mille Miglia
. His participation ended after 700 miles (1,126.5 km) when he ran the car into the side of a restaurant in the town of Fiano, in Turin
. As a result, Lamborghini lost his enthusiasm for motor racing, a sentiment that would endure for many years to come.
for his father using spare parts, including a six-cylinder Morris
engine, a General Motors
transmission, and a Ford
differential. Antonio's friends soon clamored for their own examples of Ferruccio's design. Working from a stock of surplus Morris engines and leftover military hardware, Lamborghini went into business building tractors in 1948, when he opened Lamborghini Trattori S.p.A. in his Pieve di Cento garage.
Beginning with a model called the Carioca, by the mid-1950s, Lamborghini Trattori was producing over 1000 tractors per year; over the course of the decade, Lamborghini became one of the largest agricultural equipment manufacturers in the country, with his black-and-white tractors becoming a familiar sight in Italy. In 1959, Lamborghini opened a oil heater factory, Lamborghini Bruciatori S.p.A., using technology acquired on a visit to the United States
. The company later began building air conditioning units, changing its name to Lamborghini Calor. He also sought to move into the business of building helicopter
s, but failed to secure a license to do so from the Italian government.
s and Lancia
s during the early 1950s, and at one point, had enough cars to use a different one every day of the week, adding a Mercedes-Benz 300SL
, a Jaguar E-Type
coupé, and two Maserati 3500GTs. Of the latter, Lamborghini said, "Adolfo Orsi
, then the owner of Maserati
, was a man I had a lot of respect for: he had started life as a poor boy, like myself. But I did not like his cars much. They felt heavy and did not really go very fast."
In 1958, Lamborghini traveled to Maranello
to buy a Ferrari 250GT, a two-seat coupé with a body designed by coachbuilder
Pininfarina
. He went on to own several more over the years, including a Scaglietti-designed 250 SWB Berlinetta and a 250GT 2+2 four-seater. Lamborghini thought Ferrari's cars were good, but too noisy and rough to be proper road cars, categorizing them as repurposed track cars with poorly-built interiors.
Lamborghini found that Ferrari's cars were equipped with inferior clutch
es, and required continuous trips to Maranello for rebuilds; technicians would secrete the car away for several hours to perform the work, much to Lamborghini's annoyance. He had previously expressed dissatisfaction with Ferrari's aftersales service, which he perceived to be substandard. Lamborghini brought his misgivings to Enzo Ferrari's attention, but was dismissed by the notoriously pride-filled Modenan. After successfully modifying one of his personally-owned Ferrari 250GTs to outperform stock models, Lamborghini gained the impetus to pursue an automobile manufacturing venture of his own, aiming to create the perfect touring car that he felt no one could build for him. Lamborghini believed that a grand tourer
should have attributes that were lacking in Ferrari's offerings, namely high performance without compromising tractability, ride quality, and interior appointments. A clever businessman, Lamborghini also knew that he could make triple the profit if the components used in his tractors were installed in a high-performance exotic car instead.
During the 1970s, Ferruccio Lamborghini's companies began to run into financial difficulties. In 1971, Lamborghini Trattori, which exported around half of its production of tractors, ran into trouble when its South Africa
n importer cancelled all its orders. In Bolivia
, the new military government, which had recently staged a successful coup d'état, cancelled a large order of tractors that was being prepared for shipment in Genoa
. Trattori's unionised employees could not be laid off, putting immense strain on the company. In 1972, Lamborghini sold his entire holding in the company to rival tractor builder SAME
.
Soon, the entire Lamborghini group found itself in financial trouble. Development at the automaker slowed as costs were cut. Ferruccio Lamborghini began courting buyers for Automobili and Trattori, entering negotiations with Georges-Henri Rossetti, a wealthy Swiss businessman and friend. Ferruccio sold Rossetti 51% of the company for US$600,000, thereby relinquishing control of the automaker he had founded. He continued to work at the Sant'Agata factory; Rossetti rarely involved himself in Automobili's affairs.
The situation did not improve: the 1973 oil crisis
plagued sales of high performance cars of manufacturers from around the world. Consumers flocked to smaller, more practical modes of transportation with better fuel economy
. By 1974, Ferruccio had become disenchanted with his car business. He severed all connections with the cars that bore his name, selling his remaining 49% stake in the automaker. The shares were acquired by René Leimer, a friend of Georges-Henri Rossetti.
After departing the automobile manufacturing business, Lamborghini continued his business activities in other areas, including his heating and air conditioning company, Lamborghini Calor. In 1980, he founded Lamborghini Oleodinamica S.p.A., a manufacturer of hydraulic valves and equipment.
on the shores of Lake Trasimeno
, in the frazione
of Panicarola in Castiglione del Lago
, a town in the province of Perugia
in the Umbria
region of central Italy. Returning to his farming roots, he delighted in hunting and producing his own wines, and even designed his own golf course, all the while continuing to manage several business interests. Ferruccio remarried, and at age 58, fathered a child, Patrizia, with his second wife, Maria Teresa. He died at the Silvestrini Hospital in Perugia, on February 20, 1993, at the age of 76, from a heart attack. Lamborghini is buried at the Monumental Cemetery of the Certosa di Bologna
monastery.
is a key part of Lamborghini's identity. In 1962, Ferruccio Lamborghini visited the Seville ranch of Don Eduardo Miura
, a renowned breeder of Spanish fighting bulls. Lamborghini, a Taurus
himself, was so impressed by the majestic Miura animals that he decided to adopt a raging bull
as the emblem
for the auto company he would soon found.
After producing two cars with alphanumeric designations, Lamborghini once again turned to the bull breeder for inspiration. Don Eduardo was filled with pride when he learned that Ferruccio had named a car for his family and their line of bulls; the fourth Miura to be produced was unveiled to him at his ranch in Seville.
The automaker would continue to draw upon the bullfighting connection in future years. The Islero
was named for the Miura bull that killed the famed bullfighter Manolete
in 1947. Espada is the Spanish
word for sword
, sometimes used to refer to the bullfighter himself. The Jarama's name carried a special double meaning; intended to refer only to the historic bullfighting region in Spain, Ferruccio was concerned about confusion with the also historic Jarama motor racing track
.
After christening the Urraco after a bull breed, in 1974, Lamborghini broke from tradition, naming the Countach not for a bull, but for countach! (kunˈtɑʃ), an exclamation of astonishment used by Piedmontese
men upon sighting a beautiful woman. Legend has it that stylist Nuccio Bertone
uttered the word in surprise when he first laid eyes on the Countach prototype, "Project 112". The LM002 sport utility vehicle and the Silhouette were other exceptions to the tradition.
The Jalpa of 1982 was named for a bull breed; Diablo, for the Duke of Veragua
's ferocious bull famous for fighting an epic battle against "El Chicorro" in Madrid in 1869; Murciélago
, the legendary bull whose life was spared by "El Lagartijo" for his performance in 1879; Gallardo, named for one of the five ancestral castes of the Spanish fighting bull breed; and Reventón, the bull that defeated young Mexican torero Félix Guzmán in 1943. The Estoque concept of 2008 was named for the estoc
, the sword traditionally used by matadors during bullfights.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
industrialist. Born to grape farmers from the comune
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
of Renazzo di Cento in the Emilia-Romagna
Emilia-Romagna
Emilia–Romagna is an administrative region of Northern Italy comprising the two historic regions of Emilia and Romagna. The capital is Bologna; it has an area of and about 4.4 million inhabitants....
region, his mechanical know-how led him to enter the business of tractor
Tractor
A tractor is a vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture or construction...
manufacturing in 1948, when he founded Lamborghini Trattori, which quickly became an important manufacturer of agricultural equipment in the midst of Italy's post-war economic reform. In 1959, he opened an oil heater
Oil heater
An oil heater, also known as an oil-filled heater, oil-filled radiator, or column heater, is a common form of convection heater used in domestic heating...
factory, Lamborghini Bruciatori, which later entered the business of producing air conditioning
Air conditioning
An air conditioner is a home appliance, system, or mechanism designed to dehumidify and extract heat from an area. The cooling is done using a simple refrigeration cycle...
equipment. In 1963, he most famously created Automobili Lamborghini
Lamborghini
Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A., commonly referred to as Lamborghini , is an Italian car manufacturer. The company was founded by manufacturing magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini in 1963, with the objective of producing a refined grand touring car to compete with established offerings from marques like...
, a maker of high-end sports car
Sports car
A sports car is a small, usually two seat, two door automobile designed for high speed driving and maneuverability....
s. Lamborghini sold off many of his interests by the late 1970s, and retired to an estate in Umbria
Province of Perugia
The Province of Perugia is the larger of the two provinces in the Umbria region of Italy, comprising two-thirds of both the area and population of the region. Its capital is the city of Perugia...
, where he pursued winemaking
Winemaking
Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of wine, starting with selection of the grapes or other produce and ending with bottling the finished wine. Although most wine is made from grapes, it may also be made from other fruit or non-toxic plant material...
.
Early life
Ferruccio Lamborghini was born on April 28, 1916, to viticulturists Antonio and Evelina Lamborghini, in house number 22 in Renazzo di Cento, a frazioneFrazione
A frazione , in Italy, is the name given in administrative law to a type of territorial subdivision of a comune; for other administrative divisions, see municipio, circoscrizione, quartiere...
of the comune
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
of Cento
Cento
Cento is a city and comune in the province of Ferrara, part of the region Emilia-Romagna . In Italian "cento" means 100.-History:The name Cento is a reference to the centuriation of the Po Valley...
, in the Province of Ferrara
Province of Ferrara
The Province of Ferrara is a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Ferrara.It has an area of 2,632 km², about two thirds of the area of the U.S. State of Rhode Island, and a total population of about 350,000 . There are 26 comuni in the province , see...
, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy
Northern Italy
Northern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian state, also referred as Settentrione or Alta Italia...
. According to his baptismal certificate, he was baptised four days later, on May 2. The young Lamborghini was drawn to the farming machinery rather than the farming lifestyle itself, and he studied at the Fratelli Taddia technical institute near Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
. In 1940, he was drafted into the Regia Areonautica Royal Italian Air Force, where he served as a mechanic at the Italian garrison on the island of Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
[Rodi] territory of the Kingdom of Italy since 1911, after the Italian -Turkish war, becoming the supervisor of the vehicle maintenance unit. Lamborghini was taken prisoner when the island fell to the British at the end of the war in 1945, and was not able to return home until the next year. He married, but his wife died in 1947 while giving birth to his first child, a boy named Antonio.
After World War II
After the war, Lamborghini opened a garageAutomobile repair shop
An automobile repair shop is a place where automobiles are repaired by auto mechanics and electricians.- Types :The automotive garage can be divided in so many category....
in Pieve di Cento
Pieve di Cento
Pieve di Cento is a comune in the Province of Bologna in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 25 km north of Bologna.-External links:*...
. In his spare time, Lamborghini modified an old Fiat Topolino
Fiat Topolino
The Fiat 500, commonly known as Topolino , is an Italian automobile model manufactured by Fiat from 1936 to 1955.-History:...
he had purchased, the first of many that he would own over the years. He made use of his mechanical abilities to transform the homely city car
City car
A city car is a small car intended for use primarily in an urban area.City cars are sold worldwide and most automotive industry manufacturers have one or two in their line-up. In North-America city cars are often referred to simply as "subcompacts" alongside the superminis. These kind of cars...
into a roaring 750-cc open-top two-seater, and entered the car in the 1948 Mille Miglia
Mille Miglia
The Mille Miglia was an open-road endurance race which took place in Italy twenty-four times from 1927 to 1957 ....
. His participation ended after 700 miles (1,126.5 km) when he ran the car into the side of a restaurant in the town of Fiano, in Turin
Fiano (TO)
Fiano is a comune in the Province of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 20 km northwest of Turin. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 2,648 and an area of 12.2 km²....
. As a result, Lamborghini lost his enthusiasm for motor racing, a sentiment that would endure for many years to come.
Beginnings of entrepreneurship
For years, Italy's industrial output had been dedicated to the war effort, neglecting the production of agricultural equipment that was desperately needed for Italy's postwar economic reconstruction. Lamborghini built a tractorTractor
A tractor is a vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture or construction...
for his father using spare parts, including a six-cylinder Morris
Morris Motor Company
The Morris Motor Company was a British car manufacturing company. After the incorporation of the company into larger corporations, the Morris name remained in use as a marque until 1984 when British Leyland's Austin Rover Group decided to concentrate on the more popular Austin marque...
engine, a General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
transmission, and a Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
differential. Antonio's friends soon clamored for their own examples of Ferruccio's design. Working from a stock of surplus Morris engines and leftover military hardware, Lamborghini went into business building tractors in 1948, when he opened Lamborghini Trattori S.p.A. in his Pieve di Cento garage.
Beginning with a model called the Carioca, by the mid-1950s, Lamborghini Trattori was producing over 1000 tractors per year; over the course of the decade, Lamborghini became one of the largest agricultural equipment manufacturers in the country, with his black-and-white tractors becoming a familiar sight in Italy. In 1959, Lamborghini opened a oil heater factory, Lamborghini Bruciatori S.p.A., using technology acquired on a visit to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The company later began building air conditioning units, changing its name to Lamborghini Calor. He also sought to move into the business of building helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
s, but failed to secure a license to do so from the Italian government.
Involvement with automobiles
Lamborghini's increasing wealth allowed him to purchase faster, more expensive cars than the tiny Fiats he had tinkered with during his youth. He owned cars such as Alfa RomeoAlfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars...
s and Lancia
Lancia
Lancia Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian automobile manufacturer founded in 1906 by Vincenzo Lancia and which became part of the Fiat Group in 1969. The company has a long history of producing distinctive cars and also has a strong rally heritage. Some modern Lancias are seen as presenting a more...
s during the early 1950s, and at one point, had enough cars to use a different one every day of the week, adding a Mercedes-Benz 300SL
Mercedes-Benz 300SL
The Mercedes-Benz 300SL was introduced in 1954 as a two-seat, closed sports car with distinctive gull-wing doors. Later it was offered as an open roadster...
, a Jaguar E-Type
Jaguar E-type
The Jaguar E-Type or XK-E is a British automobile, manufactured by Jaguar between 1961 and 1975. Its combination of good looks, high performance, and competitive pricing established the marque as an icon of 1960s motoring...
coupé, and two Maserati 3500GTs. Of the latter, Lamborghini said, "Adolfo Orsi
Adolfo Orsi
Adolfo Orsi was an Italian industrialist, known for owning the Maserati automobile maker.Coming from a poor family from San Lazzaro, near Modena, he lost his father in 1899. Later he created a successful business in the scrap iron, steel mill and farm equipment manufacturing area, employing...
, then the owner of Maserati
Maserati
Maserati is an Italian luxury car manufacturer established on December 1, 1914, in Bologna. The company's headquarters is now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. It has been owned by the Italian car giant Fiat S.p.A. since 1993...
, was a man I had a lot of respect for: he had started life as a poor boy, like myself. But I did not like his cars much. They felt heavy and did not really go very fast."
In 1958, Lamborghini traveled to Maranello
Maranello
Maranello is a town and comune in the region of Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy, 18 km from Modena, with a population of 16,841 as of 2009. It is best known as the home of Ferrari S.p.A. and the Scuderia Ferrari Formula One racing team...
to buy a Ferrari 250GT, a two-seat coupé with a body designed by coachbuilder
Coachbuilder
A coachbuilder is a manufacturer of bodies for carriages or automobiles.The trade dates back several centuries. Rippon was active in the time of Queen Elizabeth I, Barker founded in 1710 by an officer in Queen Anne's Guards, Brewster a relative newcomer , formed in 1810. Others in Britain included...
Pininfarina
Pininfarina
Pininfarina S.p.A. is an Italian car design firm and coachbuilder in Cambiano, Italy.Founded as Società anonima Carrozzeria Pinin Farina in 1930 by automobile designer and builder Battista "Pinin" Farina, Pininfarina has been employed by a wide variety of high-end automobile manufacturers,...
. He went on to own several more over the years, including a Scaglietti-designed 250 SWB Berlinetta and a 250GT 2+2 four-seater. Lamborghini thought Ferrari's cars were good, but too noisy and rough to be proper road cars, categorizing them as repurposed track cars with poorly-built interiors.
Lamborghini found that Ferrari's cars were equipped with inferior clutch
Clutch
A clutch is a mechanical device which provides for the transmission of power from one component to another...
es, and required continuous trips to Maranello for rebuilds; technicians would secrete the car away for several hours to perform the work, much to Lamborghini's annoyance. He had previously expressed dissatisfaction with Ferrari's aftersales service, which he perceived to be substandard. Lamborghini brought his misgivings to Enzo Ferrari's attention, but was dismissed by the notoriously pride-filled Modenan. After successfully modifying one of his personally-owned Ferrari 250GTs to outperform stock models, Lamborghini gained the impetus to pursue an automobile manufacturing venture of his own, aiming to create the perfect touring car that he felt no one could build for him. Lamborghini believed that a grand tourer
Grand tourer
A grand tourer is a high-performance luxury automobile designed for long-distance driving. The most common format is a two-door coupé with either a two-seat or a 2+2 arrangement....
should have attributes that were lacking in Ferrari's offerings, namely high performance without compromising tractability, ride quality, and interior appointments. A clever businessman, Lamborghini also knew that he could make triple the profit if the components used in his tractors were installed in a high-performance exotic car instead.
Departure from Automobili Lamborghini
- See also: Lamborghini#1971–1972: Financial pressures and Lamborghini#1973–1974: Ferruccio bows out
During the 1970s, Ferruccio Lamborghini's companies began to run into financial difficulties. In 1971, Lamborghini Trattori, which exported around half of its production of tractors, ran into trouble when its South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n importer cancelled all its orders. In Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
, the new military government, which had recently staged a successful coup d'état, cancelled a large order of tractors that was being prepared for shipment in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
. Trattori's unionised employees could not be laid off, putting immense strain on the company. In 1972, Lamborghini sold his entire holding in the company to rival tractor builder SAME
Same Deutz-Fahr
SAME Deutz-Fahr is an Italian-based manufacturer of tractors, combine harvesters, other agricultural machines, engines and equipment. It builds tractors under the SAME , Lamborghini, Hürlimann and Deutz-Fahr brands, and combines under the Deutz-Fahr and Đuro Đaković brands.SDF builds some tractors...
.
Soon, the entire Lamborghini group found itself in financial trouble. Development at the automaker slowed as costs were cut. Ferruccio Lamborghini began courting buyers for Automobili and Trattori, entering negotiations with Georges-Henri Rossetti, a wealthy Swiss businessman and friend. Ferruccio sold Rossetti 51% of the company for US$600,000, thereby relinquishing control of the automaker he had founded. He continued to work at the Sant'Agata factory; Rossetti rarely involved himself in Automobili's affairs.
The situation did not improve: the 1973 oil crisis
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...
plagued sales of high performance cars of manufacturers from around the world. Consumers flocked to smaller, more practical modes of transportation with better fuel economy
Fuel economy
Fuel economy may refer to:*Fuel economy in automobiles, refers to the fuel efficiency relationship between distance traveled by an automobile and the amount of fuel consumed*Fuel efficiency in general...
. By 1974, Ferruccio had become disenchanted with his car business. He severed all connections with the cars that bore his name, selling his remaining 49% stake in the automaker. The shares were acquired by René Leimer, a friend of Georges-Henri Rossetti.
After departing the automobile manufacturing business, Lamborghini continued his business activities in other areas, including his heating and air conditioning company, Lamborghini Calor. In 1980, he founded Lamborghini Oleodinamica S.p.A., a manufacturer of hydraulic valves and equipment.
Retirement and Death
Lamborghini retired to a 750 acres (3 km²) estateEstate (house)
An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...
on the shores of Lake Trasimeno
Lake Trasimeno
Lake Trasimeno , also referred to as Trasimene or Thrasimene in English, is the largest lake on the Italian peninsula south of the Po River with a surface area of 128 km2, slightly less than Lake Como...
, in the frazione
Frazione
A frazione , in Italy, is the name given in administrative law to a type of territorial subdivision of a comune; for other administrative divisions, see municipio, circoscrizione, quartiere...
of Panicarola in Castiglione del Lago
Castiglione del Lago
Castiglione del Lago is a town in the Province of Perugia of Umbria , on the southwest corner of Lake Trasimeno. Orvieto is 59 km south, Chiusi is 21 km to the south west, Arezzo is 56 km to the north west, Cortona is 21 km to the north and Perugia is 47 km to the south...
, a town in the province of Perugia
Province of Perugia
The Province of Perugia is the larger of the two provinces in the Umbria region of Italy, comprising two-thirds of both the area and population of the region. Its capital is the city of Perugia...
in the Umbria
Umbria
Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...
region of central Italy. Returning to his farming roots, he delighted in hunting and producing his own wines, and even designed his own golf course, all the while continuing to manage several business interests. Ferruccio remarried, and at age 58, fathered a child, Patrizia, with his second wife, Maria Teresa. He died at the Silvestrini Hospital in Perugia, on February 20, 1993, at the age of 76, from a heart attack. Lamborghini is buried at the Monumental Cemetery of the Certosa di Bologna
Certosa di Bologna
The Certosa di Bologna is a former Carthusian monastery in Bologna, central Italy, which was founded in 1334 and suppressed in 1797. In 1801 it became the city’s Monumental Cemetery which would be much praised by Byron and others...
monastery.
Lamborghini's fascination with bullfighting
The world of bullfightingBullfighting
Bullfighting is a traditional spectacle of Spain, Portugal, southern France and some Latin American countries , in which one or more bulls are baited in a bullring for sport and entertainment...
is a key part of Lamborghini's identity. In 1962, Ferruccio Lamborghini visited the Seville ranch of Don Eduardo Miura
Miura bull
A Miura bull is a Spanish fighting bull bred from the lineage of the Miura Cattle Ranch , located in the province of Seville, Spain. The ranch originally belonged to Don Eduardo Miura Fernández, and is known for producing large and difficult fighting bulls...
, a renowned breeder of Spanish fighting bulls. Lamborghini, a Taurus
Taurus (astrology)
Taurus is the second astrological sign in the Zodiac, which spans the zodiac between the 30th and 59th degree of celestial longitude. Generally, the Sun transits this area of the zodiac between April 21 to May 21 each year...
himself, was so impressed by the majestic Miura animals that he decided to adopt a raging bull
Bovinae
The biological subfamily Bovinae includes a diverse group of 10 genera of medium to large sized ungulates, including domestic cattle, the bison, African buffalo, the water buffalo, the yak, and the four-horned and spiral-horned antelopes...
as the emblem
Emblem
An emblem is a pictorial image, abstract or representational, that epitomizes a concept — e.g., a moral truth, or an allegory — or that represents a person, such as a king or saint.-Distinction: emblem and symbol:...
for the auto company he would soon found.
After producing two cars with alphanumeric designations, Lamborghini once again turned to the bull breeder for inspiration. Don Eduardo was filled with pride when he learned that Ferruccio had named a car for his family and their line of bulls; the fourth Miura to be produced was unveiled to him at his ranch in Seville.
The automaker would continue to draw upon the bullfighting connection in future years. The Islero
Islero
Islero was a Miura bull known for having killed famed bullfighter Manolete on August 28, 1947. Bulls from the Miura ranch, located near Seville, Spain, are known for being large and ferocious.Islero had poor eyesight and tended to chop with his right horn...
was named for the Miura bull that killed the famed bullfighter Manolete
Manolete
Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez , better known as Manolete, was a Spanish bullfighter.He rose to prominence shortly after the Spanish Civil War and is considered by some to be the greatest bullfighter of all time. His style was sober and serious, with few concessions to the gallery, and he...
in 1947. Espada is the Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
word for sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
, sometimes used to refer to the bullfighter himself. The Jarama's name carried a special double meaning; intended to refer only to the historic bullfighting region in Spain, Ferruccio was concerned about confusion with the also historic Jarama motor racing track
Circuito Permanente Del Jarama
The Circuito del Jarama , formerly known as Circuito Permanente del Jarama is a race course in Madrid, Spain which has hosted nine Formula One Spanish Grand Prix....
.
After christening the Urraco after a bull breed, in 1974, Lamborghini broke from tradition, naming the Countach not for a bull, but for countach! (kunˈtɑʃ), an exclamation of astonishment used by Piedmontese
Piedmontese language
Piedmontese is a Romance language spoken by over 2 million people in Piedmont, northwest Italy. It is geographically and linguistically included in the Northern Italian group . It is part of the wider western group of Romance languages, including French, Occitan, and Catalan.Many European and...
men upon sighting a beautiful woman. Legend has it that stylist Nuccio Bertone
Nuccio Bertone
Giuseppe Bertone, called "Nuccio", was a famed automobile designer and constructor...
uttered the word in surprise when he first laid eyes on the Countach prototype, "Project 112". The LM002 sport utility vehicle and the Silhouette were other exceptions to the tradition.
The Jalpa of 1982 was named for a bull breed; Diablo, for the Duke of Veragua
Duchy of Veragua
The Duchy of Veragua was a Spanish hereditary domain created in 1537 in the reign of King Charles I in a small section of the territory of Veragua...
's ferocious bull famous for fighting an epic battle against "El Chicorro" in Madrid in 1869; Murciélago
Murciélago
Murciélago was a Navarra fighting bull known for having survived 28 sword strokes in an October 5, 1879 fight against Rafael "El Lagartijo" Molina Sanchez, at the Coso de los califas bullring in Córdoba, Spain. Its name means bat in Spanish....
, the legendary bull whose life was spared by "El Lagartijo" for his performance in 1879; Gallardo, named for one of the five ancestral castes of the Spanish fighting bull breed; and Reventón, the bull that defeated young Mexican torero Félix Guzmán in 1943. The Estoque concept of 2008 was named for the estoc
Estoc
The French estoc or English "tuck" was a variation of the longsword focused intensely on fighting against mail or plate armour. It was long, straight and stiff, with a diamond or triangular cross-section. An estoc had no cutting edge, just a point. Examples from Poland are more than long, with a...
, the sword traditionally used by matadors during bullfights.
Legacy
All of Ferruccio Lamborghini's companies continue to operate today in one form or another. His son Tonino designs a series of designer clothing and accessories under his full name. His daughter, Patrizia runs the Lamborghini winery at his Umbria estate. A museum that honors his legacy, the Centro Studi e Ricerche Ferruccio Lamborghini, opened in 2001.External links
- An obituary from a local newspaper, and a photograph of Lamborghini's certificate of baptism (Italian)
- Photographs of Ferruccio Lamborghini's birth home and first repair shop in Renazzo di Cento (Italian)
- Patrizia Lamborghini discussing Lamborghini winery