The REAL fuel of Ferrari
Schumacher was like family here, Hollywood stars flock to try mama Rossella’s ragu and even diet freaks Ronaldo and Haaland can’t get enough. This is...
‘Michael was here breakfast, lunch and dinner. He was like a son to me’
THe world’s best pasta maker is eating her lunch, and after a busy morning service Rossella Giannini enjoys the silence.
The silver- haired matriarch watches closely as her husband, Maurizio, divides the remaining contents of a large pan of ragu between himself, their son, Alberto, and daughter-in-law, Francesca, the family of four exchanging few words while waiters diligently prepare for the evening to come.
it is rarely this quiet at Ristorante Montana. Situated a stone’s throw from Maranello, the home of Ferrari, Rossella has fought an uphill battle to compete with the five-star hospitality on offer down the road, where men in suits pay a premium for a slice of italian luxury.
Yet the real stars, it seems, gravitate here. it was erling Haaland who, sat within these four wood-panelled walls, wrote ‘the best pasta i’ve ever eaten’ on a napkin addressed to Rossella.
‘ Mino Raiola’s father was a friend,’ explains Maurizio. Raiola was the football super-agent who recommended this hidden gem to Haaland, one of his star clients, before his death in 2022.
Haaland, whose goalscoring exploits are fuelled by 6,000 calories a day, is one of countless footballing faces to make the trek to Ristorante Montana. Roberto de Zerbi, Gianluca Scamacca and even Cristiano Ronaldo have paid Rossella a visit, the famously diet- crazy Portugal captain unable to resist Rossella’s hearty cooking when he accompanied former Juventus president Andrea Agnelli here.
‘He ate fried dumplings with cured meats and pasta — lasagna, tortellini and gramigna — plus tiramisu for dessert,’ Rossella recalls.
She has admirers in Hollywood too, with actress Penelope Cruz and director Michael Mann on the guest list.
But it is the drivers from La Scuderia who have made this place their home. Rene Arnoux and Stefan Johansson were first in 1986 while Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, the two men competing for the Prancing Horse this year, are regular visitors.
Sebastian Vettel still pops in despite leaving the team in 2020, while a framed photo of Fernando Alonso hugging the italian chef is proudly displayed alongside photos of his fellow Ferrari alumni. Perhaps Lewis Hamilton will stop by next season.
There is one picture that inspires the most awe. Stretched across the width of the wall, Rossella squeezes Michael Schumacher as he tucks into one of her staple dishes, tagliatelle with pork ragu sauce.
‘To my mama Rossella,’ reads the German’s message, delicately penned in italian on the canvas. ‘Thank you for everything.’
Rossella looks on with a smile, her eyes aglow with admiration for the man who visited whenever in Maranello. ‘Breakfast, lunch and dinner he would come here,’ she tells Mail Sport. ‘He was everything.’
Rossella remembers her first meeting with Schumacher. Acquainting himself with the area after signing for Ferrari, the German arrived on her doorstep late at night.
‘it was February 14, 1996, at 11.30pm,’ she recalls. ‘He landed in Parma with his private plane and came to us with the press officer at the time, Claudio Berro.
He had dinner on Valentine’s day — it was love at first sight!’
Five consecutive world championships and countless tagliatelle later, Schumacher left an indelible mark on Maranello, as well as Rossella’s heart.
‘He called me his italian mama and he was like another son to me,’ she says with a smile. But it is now more than a decade since Schumacher’s last visit, after his skiing accident on the French Alps in december 2013. His wellbeing has largely been kept from fans and he has not been seen in public since. Francesca, standing beneath a framed Schumacher race suit, utters: ‘it’s a tragedy.’
But the Schumacher clan have not forgotten about the woman who cared so deeply for Michael. A trio of race helmets belonging to the seven-time world champion and his son, Mick, are perched on a shelf above the till.
‘Mick and his mother visited last year,’ Francesca says, before showing a photo of the young driver giving Rossella a warm hug. The connection still runs deep between the families after all these years.
The wheels keep on turning at Ristorante Montana on this grey February afternoon, where another successful night’s trade fast approaches.
will a famous face pay a surprise visit this evening? Leclerc is in town to promote Ferrari’s new partnership with Peroni, while excitement is in the air over Hamilton’s upcoming arrival, the Brit having signed a lucrative deal to join from 2025.
Hamilton, like Schumacher a seven-time world champion, has never frequented this Ferrari sanctuary but his father, Anthony, dropped by many years ago. But as the follower of a strict vegan diet, will Rossella’s famous tagliatelle be off the menu?
‘i’m the boss here!’ Rossella quips, excited at the prospect of cooking for the man desperately seeking to break her darling Schumacher’s record. ‘He will have what i cook for him!’
if he is anything like his fellow stars, Hamilton will not be able to escape the magic of this refuge.