If peeking at the assembly lines at Ferrari and Lamborghini is like glimpsing inside a well-oiled machine, a day behind the scenes at Pagani is like peering into an artisan's workshop. Argentine-Italian Horacio Pagani produces a measly 40 or so unique, made-to-order hypercars per year (base price: €1.3 to €2.5 million!), which are assembled by hand, including hundreds of pieces cast from composite materials baked in giant autoclaves, at this astonishing factory 13km east of Modena.
Factory tours, booked through Modenatur, include the new Museu Horacio Pagani, a small but fascinating glimpse into Pagani's life and cars, including some of his earliest designs, forged from balsa wood when he was 10-years-old!). But coming here without visiting the showroom factory (no robotic machinery or assembly lines; so quiet and hand-crafted you can nearly hear a pin drop) would be a major injustice for any fan of life's finer things.