Sumith Prasad
In Michael Mann’s biographical film ‘Ferrari,’ Enzo Ferrari cherishes an extramarital affair with Lina Lardi initially without the knowledge of his wife Laura Ferrari. When life gets harder and more challenging, Enzo runs away to Lina’s house in Castelvetro di Modena and spends time with their son Piero. As Piero grows, Lina realizes the need for his son to be accepted as a Ferrari. When Laura knows about her husband’s affair, she asks him not to reveal Piero as a Ferrari as long as she is alive. The movie ends without depicting the fate of Enzo and Lina’s relationship, making one intrigued about their togetherness in reality!
Enzo and Lina Did Not Marry
Enzo and Lina’s relationship did not end in their marriage. He was married to Laura until the latter’s death in 1978. Even if he had wanted to separate from Laura, it was impossible for a major part of his life since Italy legalized divorce only in 1970. However, Lina and Piero moved to Ferrari’s house, located at 11 Largo Garibaldi in the city of Modena in Italy, after Laura’s death. “Piero and his wife and daughter had moved into a large apartment in Ferrari’s house, as had Lina, who now occupied her own separate quarters. Piero had been legally recognized as Ferrari’s son,” Brock Yates wrote in ‘Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races, the Machine,’ the source text of the film.
Towards the end of Enzo’s life, the intensity of his relationship with Lina reportedly waned despite her being present as a partner in his life. “Ferrari was left alone. His love affair with Lina Lardi had long since faded, and he had never been particularly close to Piero’s wife or daughter. […] Enzo Ferrari was becoming more reclusive and less visible in public. His legs were failing him, and travel had become almost impossible. The big house on 11 Largo Garibaldi was now like a tomb, with Piero, his wife, Floriana, his teenage daughter, Antonella, and his mother, Lina, often absent,” further reads the biography.
Furthermore, Lina was not the only woman who was present in Enzo’s life at the time. Fiamma Breschi was the partner of the racing car driver Luigi Musso, who drove for Ferrari. After Musso died in an accident, a relationship formed between Enzo and Fiamma, according to the latter. “He [Enzo] started to desire me. At first, he hinted at it, and later he made it very clear. He told me that he couldn’t imagine his life without me,” Fiamma said about their relationship, as per The Guardian. “According to his letters, I was the first woman of his life,” she added.
Fiamma was aware of Lina’s unignorable part in Enzo’s life. Considering her words, she seemingly accepted what Lina was to Enzo. “His [Enzo’s] relationship with his wife [Laura] was very odd. She was very funny when she was young, but after their son’s death, they became estranged. He saw her as a burden. With the other one, he always said it was an accident. Signora Lina never made his life difficult. When she was unhappy, she would go shopping in Modena. Her other hobby was knitting, and with that, she managed to be content. We are all different. My hobby was driving a Ferrari,” Fiamma said in the same interview.
Even though Enzo and Lina didn’t marry, their son Piero Ferrari inherited 10% of his father’s company after the automobile mogul’s death. It isn’t a surprise that Enzo and Lina’s relationship didn’t end in marriage. Enzo supposedly never considered romantic relationships immensely meaningful, as per what he wrote in 1961, “I am convinced that when a man tells a woman he loves her, he only means that he desires her and that the only perfect love in this world is that of a father for his son.”
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