Lamborghini’s 50th anniversary grand tour

You're probably aware of the debt you owe to Enzo Ferrari, but perhaps not in the way you expect.

Certainly, you owe him for services to automotive delicacy for his delicious and utterly beguiling 250 GT. But you also owe him because had Ferrucio Lamborghini not thought the workmanship on his 250 to be a bit rubbish, he never would have started a supercar company, and the world would never have borne witness to an Aventador. Or Reventon. Or Gallardo. Or Diablo. Or Countach. Or Miura.

Or so the legend goes, anyway. So praise be to Enzo Ferrari then, for helping spur on wealthy Italian industrialist Ferrucio - who was a British prisoner of war during WW2 and owned an air-conditioning company - to kick start one of the great Italian supercar manufacturers, thus giving teenage boys something to pin up on their bedroom walls.

This month, Lamborghini turns 50, and its throwing quite the party. To celebrate, the company has gathered up 350 Lamborghinis - owners and guests - for a grand tour across Italy, starting from Milan, through the Trebbia Valley to the Forte del Marmi, then from Rome to Bologna, passing through Orvieto, Arezzo, and San Giustino Valdarno. From Bologna, the tour will end at Sant'Agata Bolognese, Lamborghini's birthplace and headquarters.

It'll be some line-up. The Gallardo makes up the bulk of the 350-strong parade (123 cars) - fitting, considering it's the company's most successful model ever - along with a fine splattering of Aventadors, but there's also much more: 36 Murcielagos, 21 Diablos (best roll-up your pastel blue suit sleeves), 17 Miuras, 15 Countachs, eight Espadas, six Urracos, five 400 GTs, three 350 GTs, two Jaramas and even an LM 002. Forgotten what the LM 002 is? Imagine a four-wheel-drive Lamborghini Cathedral, and you're probably there. Ferrucio did start off making tractors, don't forget.

"Since our founder Ferrucio Lamborghini first founded the company," says Lambo CEO Stephan Winkelmann, "a characteristic inherent in our DNA is to address the challenge and not overcome it, but to push boundaries to achieve something even more extraordinary."

Have a click through for pics from the launch, and head back to TopGear.com next week for the full story...

Vijay Pattni