Alex Zanardi in Budrio

Alex Zanardi signs a copy of his autobiography for VeloceToday. Photo copyright Mario Marchesini.

By Lorenzo Marchesini

Photos by Mario Marchesini.

On October 3rd, CART champion Alex Zanardi visited Budrio, the municipality where he was born, to participate in the ribbon cutting ceremony of the exhibition dedicated to the Ocarina, the musical instrument that was invented here in the mid 1800s.

Zanardi holding an Ocarina at the ceremony. Photo copyright Mario Marchesini.

Zanardi was welcomed by a large crowd during this visit. The local population clearly wanted to celebrate Zanardi's successful recovery from the brutal accident at the Lausitzring in Germany. Zanardi chose to be rehabilitated—and fitted with new legs—in Italy, at the world-renowned clinic of the Centro Inail in Vigorso, a suburb of Budrio (much to the relief of his American insurance company!) During the visit, he was accompanied by Dr, Costa, (the official doctor for the Motorcycle World Cup)and Dr. Franco Ferri, the prosthetics specialist.

On display in the beautiful setting of the church of Sant'Agatha was a wide variety of Ocarinas made by Donati, the inventor of the Ocarina as well as by Vicinelli, Cesari, Chiesa, Mignani and Menoglio, who is the only one producing Ocarinas in Budrio today.

The Ocarina is also symbolized on the Budrio Motor Club badge.

Zanardi brought along copies of his new autobiography, "Alex Zanardi, Pero, Zanardi da Castel Maggiore!" and autographed them for a long line of eager admirers, including VeloceToday. He has set up a foundation and all revenues coming from the sale of the book are used directly to help children who experience difficulties in life.

In his autobiography, Zanardi gives a detailed account his adventures during a career path that evolved from Go Karts to F3, F3000, to F1 and ultimately to CART. The book provides the readers with an inside view of all the characters of the racing scene including the politics of F1. The reader will conclude that Zanardi enjoyed his stay with Team Nunn and the Chip Ganassi Target Team, during which time he developed a close friendship with teammate Jimmy Vasser.

Thanks to the efforts of Doctor Ferri, today Zanardi is able to get about very well. Photo copyright Mario Marchesini.

Obviously Zanardi is a man with a great passion for life and an even greater love for his wife Daniela, who was his manager and was also instrumental in his recovery, and his son, Niccolo. He wrote the book with an incredible sense of humor, and describes his friends in great detail with much sense of humor, and describes his friends in great detail with much color.

Unfortunately the book is only available in the Italian language. It is very touching and humane story about someone who has not been affected by being famous. Let's hope that one day we will get the American version. The publisher is Baldini Castoldi Dalai editore S.p.a., Milano.