Italy – Kiwis in Bologna - Magic Adventures

After a lovely few days in Venice, we got the train to Bologna for my cousin’s (Rob’s cousin) wedding.

After arriving at our hotel, we noticed that we could understand everyone… a little to well. We were surrounded by Kiwis, and it seemed that most of us had the same problem – no iron in the room to iron our wedding clothes. We could get the hotel to iron our wedding clothes for us, but that would take a day. We needed them in two hours, so declined the offer. After a little Kiwi ingenuity (damps cloths and a hair dryer), we were wrinkle free… and that’s what I’m sticking with.

Once assembled we all piled onto the coach and got delivered to Palazzo Del Vignola on a beautiful sunny day.

It was a beautiful ceremony. There were 8 glamorous bridesmaids (Caro’s sister Teeny was the maid of honour) and 8 handsome groomsmen. Caro designed her own dress and had it made by her friend, Erin.

Here’s all the Bilkeys’ in all their finery. (Alistair is somewhere around)

And Mr and Mrs Williams!

The rest of the evening, we were wining and dining in the Renaissance-styled reception hall in the Palazzo. There were some wonderful speeches, great company and we were even treated to fireworks to further celebrate the day! Amazing and memorable.

The next day we gathered in anticipation, as we were heading out to see the Ferruccio Lamborghini museum – a museum about the man who started Lamborghini and built it into the empire it is today. After getting a little lost, a petrol stop by the taxi and a course correction, we managed to find the place. It’s about an hour outside of Bologna.

The museum tells about Mr Ferruccio Lamborghini’s humble beginnings – he initially made his money building high quality and efficient tractors. Surprising, right?

The reason he got into sports cars was because of his rivalry with Mr Enzo Ferrari (also based in Bologna) who had been making sports cars since 1943. So, Mr Lamborghini decided to make his own. On the left here is his one of his earliest sports car successes – the 1966 Miura. One the right though, I’m standing next to the 350 GTV is his first prototype sports car from 1963.

While we were impressed with the 1971 Contache (ie the first Lamborghini will gull wings), the most remarkable thing was that a Mr Lamborghini gave us the tour – Ferruccio’s nephew. Very cool.