Cars were my passion long before they became my job.
A passion that began as a child, grew between the road, the garage and the racetrack, and has now become Figliolini Automobili.
The beginning
The passion started early.
I've always had an almost natural passion for cars. As a child I was fascinated by anything with an engine, and over the years that curiosity grew into something much bigger.
An important part of this passion was passed on to me by my uncle Paolo Penna, now my business partner. Paolo is a lawyer by profession, but he has always shared a deep passion for cars.
Age 15
My first car, my own way.
When I was 15 my parents gave me a Microcar. I needed it to get to school and around — living outside central Rome, it already meant real freedom to me.
Going out with friends I'd see plenty of new Microcars, some with huge stereo systems, rims, modifications and accessories that cost 10 or even 15 thousand euros. My parents, quite rightly, had no intention of giving me that kind of money to spend on a Microcar.
So I decided to do things differently. For over a year I studied acoustics, electrical systems, audio components and wiring. I experimented, made mistakes, took everything apart and started again. At 16 I built my own system from scratch, sourcing and assembling used components one at a time, putting every single piece together with my own hands.
Maybe that was one of the first moments I realised that what I truly loved wasn't just having a car. I loved understanding how it worked and making it something of my own.
The track
With my uncle Paolo I started experiencing cars beyond the road.
It was my uncle Paolo Penna who first took me to a racetrack, in his Alfa Romeo 147 GTA: a naturally aspirated 3.8 V6 Busso engine, a manual gearbox and nothing else. From there came days on circuits like Vallelunga — the one closest to home, and the one I'm most attached to — all the way to Mugello, Imola and Spa-Francorchamps.
What you feel on track is hard to put into words: the racing lines, the car's behaviour at the limit, the sound of the Busso at full revs. It was those days with Paolo that turned a passion into something serious.
Inside the cockpit
Words aren't enough. You have to hear it.
Two onboard laps with the 147 GTA: the naturally aspirated Busso V6, a manual gearbox and nothing else. Turn the sound on and raise the volume.
Vallelunga
The home circuit
Spa-Francorchamps
The climb up Eau Rouge
The journey
From the first cars to today.
Age 15
The first Microcar
I couldn't afford the modifications I saw around, so I studied and built them myself. My first audio system, piece by piece.
Age 18
The first real car
From that moment cars became an ever bigger part of my life. Every car was a chance to learn something new.
With my uncle Paolo
The track and the 147 GTA
Paolo Penna first took me to the track in his Alfa Romeo 147 GTA: a naturally aspirated 3.8 V6 Busso engine and a manual gearbox. Vallelunga, Mugello, Imola, Spa. Those days changed me: that's where passion became something serious.
At SFR Motors
The trips to Germany and the sales world
Three years with my cousins Alessio and Marco Sforza: marketing, communication and trips to Germany to find, evaluate and buy imported cars. A true school of the trade.
Today
Figliolini Automobili
After years among cars, modifications, circuits, buying and selling, that passion became a company. With Paolo by my side, as a partner.
My way of seeing cars
Not just selling cars.
When I look at a car I don't just see a brand, a model, a year and a price. I see what's behind it: the engine, the engineering, the way it was configured, how it behaves — and above all the feeling it can give to whoever will drive it.
From passion to work
Where I truly got to know this industry.
For about three years I worked with my cousins Alessio and Marco Sforza, founders of SFR Motors, a used and imported car dealership in Rome. I mainly took care of marketing, social media, communication and digital content.
I started working with them when SFR Motors was still a much smaller business than it is today. Watching it grow up close was a real education: selling cars, the relationship with customers, sourcing and valuing vehicles, the used-car and import market. Alessio and Marco have always been a point of reference for me, in and out of work.
The first trips to Germany
Thousands of kilometres to learn how a car is really bought.
With Alessio and Marco I experienced the sourcing and purchasing of cars from Germany first-hand. Not just picking a car: finding it, evaluating it, checking its condition, buying it and organising the journey home. A true school in the field.
Hours and hours of German motorways in cars I had previously only seen in photos: Porsche, BMW M3, Aston Martin. But the most important part wasn't driving them. It was everything I learned along the way.
First came the passion. Then the experience. At a certain point I realised I wanted to build something of my own.
My guide
Paolo Penna: my uncle, today my business partner.
My uncle Paolo was the first person to make me understand that a car doesn't end where the steering wheel begins. A lawyer by profession but a petrolhead to the core, he took me to the track, let me feel a car's behaviour at the limit and taught me to look beyond appearances.
Today he is my partner at Figliolini Automobili. He's my point of reference when I have to judge a car, and the person I share the same passion with every day.
Why I do it
“I do it because I love it. Passion is the engine of everything.”
Without passion, this job probably wouldn't make sense. For me, buying, driving, discovering, sourcing and selling cars is above all something I enjoy. The business came later. And I want this passion to come through in the cars I choose and in the way I offer them to my customers.