From the heart of racing in Spain to the heart of racing in Italy. The Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, to give it its rather ponderous full name, lies at the southeastern end of the Po Valley, the flat, hot, dusty, smog-bound basin trapped between the Alps and Dolomites to the north, and the Apennines to the south.
The Po Valley is Italy’s beating industrial heart. From Milan in the northwest to Bologna in the south, it is full of engineering and automotive companies whose name resound around the globe. Moto Guzzi, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Ducati, Brembo, Magneti Marelli, Piaggio, and a thousand more you have never heard of, but without whom half the world’s vehicles would not be able to move. The regional government of Emilia-Romagna have rebranded it Motor Valley, a name it deserves.
Along the valley’s southeastern edge, the Adriatic coast is littered with beach resorts, which are bustling in July and August, but slowly die out as the summer fades. They are odd places, basically a long strip of restaurants and tourist shops selling exactly the same tat that stretches for 40-odd kilometers, from Cattolica to Cervia.
