Auto News 5

BOLOGNA, ITALY -- I’ve spent the afternoon roaring up and down a series of switchbacks scything through the rolling hills of Emilia-Romagna. The view out my windshield – postcard blue sky and picturesquely dilapidated farmhouses dotting improbably green pastures – looks like a Baroque Carracci landscape. Lunch was homemade tagliatelle at a roadside trattoria, and I’m heading to what promises to be a three-hour, 10,000-calorie dinner in Maranello. Frankly, I’d be having a hell of a time even if I were behind the wheel of a pipsqueak Fiat Panda. As it happens, I’m driving a Ferrari. And not just any Ferrari, but a 458. And not just any 458, but a brand-new 2014 Ferrari 458 Speciale .