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Ferrari’s Feat
Steven Flax
07/01/2004
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The Italians have a word for it: sprezzatura. In The Book of the Courtier
(1528), Baldassare Castiglione defined sprezzatura as “the appearance of
effortless mastery.” Since the rise of the Roman Empire, the Italians have
produced so many creative masterpieces—Dante’s Divine Comedy, Michelangelo’s
David, tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms and caffe mocha with a double
shot—that it is easy to assume that such artistry comes easily to them. Of
course, it does not. But in September, Ferrari will begin delivering to the
United States its newest creation, a groundbreaking 2+2 coupe called the 612
Scaglietti that looks as if it has sprung magically from some celestial drawing
board of the ideal grand touring car.
 | | FERRARI WILL start delivering its new 612 Scaglietti to the United States in
September. |
The Scaglietti’s three years of
development were far from effortless, however, illustrating most emphatically
the kind of masterful automobile that is created when a company is driven by an
idiosyncratic passion for excellence, rather than presumed market demand. Since
the car debuted in the United States at New York’s Lever House last December,
with a price tag of approximately $250,000, Ferrari has taken orders for more
than 300, reportedly from customers such as soccer star David Beckham and real
estate mogul Peter Kalikow.
Although it is not, strictly speaking, a limited
edition, Ferrari plans to make only 350 Scagliettis a year, at most, and will be
sending approximately 100 each year to the United States. Rarity aside, the car
is so different from and superior to its four-passenger predecessors in so many
ways, both in its design and in its operating technologies, that it promises to
be a collectors’ item in the making.
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