Maranello is a town and 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:...

in the region of 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....

 in Northern Italy

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...

, 18 km from Modena

Modena

Modena is a city and comune on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy....

, with a population of 16,841 as of 2009. It is best known as the home of Ferrari S.p.A.

Ferrari

Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...

 and the Scuderia Ferrari

Scuderia Ferrari

Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing....

 Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 racing team. Maranello was also home to coachbuilding

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...

 firm Carrozzeria Scaglietti

Carrozzeria Scaglietti

Carrozzeria Scaglietti was an Italian automobile design and coachbuilding company active in the 1950s. It was founded by Sergio Scaglietti in 1951 as an automobile repair concern, but was located across the road from Ferrari in Maranello outside Modena, Italy.Scaglietti gained Enzo Ferrari's...

, now owned by Ferrari.

Maranello has been the location for the Ferrari factory since the early 1940s, when Enzo Ferrari

Enzo Ferrari

Enzo Anselmo Ferrari Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian race car driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari car manufacturer...

 transferred operations from the Scuderia Ferrari Garage and Factory in Modena

Modena

Modena is a city and comune on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy....

, which had been his base of operations dating back to Scuderia Ferrari's days as an arm of Alfa Romeo

Alfa 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...

, due to bombing during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Initially the factory in Maranello was a base not only for Scuderia Ferrari but also for Auto Avio Costruzioni, the machine tool manufacturing business started by Enzo to tide the company over whilst Alfa Romeo's ban on Enzo Ferrari's making cars bearing the Ferrari name was in force. The public museum Galleria Ferrari

Galleria Ferrari

Galleria Ferrari is a Ferrari company museum dedicated to the Ferrari sports car marque. The museum is not purely for cars;also on view are prizes, photographs and other historical objects relating to the Italian motor racing industry...

, which displays sports and racing cars and trophies, is also located here. The Ferrari 550 Maranello

Ferrari 550

The Ferrari 550 Maranello and 550 Barchetta are 2-seat grand tourers built by Ferrari. Introduced in 1996, the 550 was an upmarket front-engined V12 coupe of the kind not seen since the Daytona. It shared its platform and 5.5 L engine with the 2+2 456 but was positioned as the company's...

 and Ferrari 575 Maranello are named after the town. Maranello Kart, an Italian kart chassis, is also named after the town.

Near Maranello is the town of Fiorano Modenese

Fiorano Modenese

Fiorano Modenese is a comune in the Province of Modena in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 45 km west of Bologna and about 15 km southwest of Modena...

 where the Fiorano Circuit

Fiorano Circuit

The Fiorano Circuit is a private racetrack owned by Ferrari for development and testing purposes. It is located near the Italian town of Maranello....

 is located, a private track owned by Ferrari for its car testing.

Maranello is the starting point of the annual Italian Marathon, which finishes in nearby Carpi.