Auto News 5

At the Leaning Tower of Pisa, I saw Lamborghinis. Atop Rome's Janiculum Hill, I turned from the domes and towers to ogle Lambo scoops and louvers in yellow, lavender, cobalt, teal, and lurid pink. In Bologna's Piazza Maggiore, instead of exploring palaces and the Basilica of San Petronio, I beheld the array of Miuras, Isleros, Espadas, Urracos, Countachs, Diablos, Murciélagos, Gallardos, and Aventadors. Aside from a couple of LM002 bruiser-utilities, the only discordant element was at the nearby 447-year-old fountain, where Neptune clutches the trident that was copied by Mario Maserati when he designed the emblem for his brothers' first production car. On Tuesday, May 7, some 350 Lambor-ghinis gathered at the Piazza Castello, in Milan, for the Grande Giro to celebrate the marque's fiftieth birthday. After testing the 3.5-liter V-12 engine in May 1963, Ferruccio Lamborghini showed his first car, the 350GTV, that autumn at Turin. He began selling its successor, the 350GT, in 1964. The impetus for the car's creation came from Enzo Ferrari, who had spurned Ferruccio Lamborghini's complaints about his Ferrari 250GT's workmanship.