Ferruccio Lamborghini was born on April 28, 1916, to viticulturists Antonio and Evelina Lamborghini in house number 22 in Renazzo di Cento, in the Province of Ferrara, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. According to his baptismal certificate, Ferruccio was baptised as a Roman Catholic four days later, on 2 May.

As a young man, Lamborghini was drawn more to farming machinery rather than the farming lifestyle itself. Following his interest in mechanics, Lamborghini studied at the Fratelli Taddia technical institute near Bologna. In 1940 he was drafted into the Italian Royal Air Force, where he served as a mechanic at the Italian garrison on the island of Rhodes (territory of the Kingdom of Italy since 1911, after the Italo-Turkish War), becoming the supervisor of the vehicle maintenance unit. Lamborghini was taken prisoner when the island fell to the British at the end of the war in 1945, and was not able to return home until the next year. He married, but his wife died in 1947 while giving birth to his first child, a boy named Tonino.

In 1947 Ferruccio Lamborghini recognized an emerging market in post-War Italy devoted to agricultural and industrial revitalization. Using parts from military vehicle engines and differentials from ARAR centres (Azienda Recupero Alienazione Residuati), Lamborghini built the first of his “Carioca” tractors, themselves based on the six-cylinder petrol engines of Morris trucks.

The car manufacturer would continue to draw upon the bullfighting connection in future years. The Islero was named for the Miura bull that killed the famed bullfighter Manolete in 1947. Espada is the Spanish word for sword, sometimes used to refer to the bullfighter himself. The Jarama’s name carried a special double meaning; intended to refer only to the historic bullfighting region in Spain, Ferruccio was concerned about confusion with the also historic Jarama motor racing track.

After World War II, Lamborghini opened a garage in Pieve di Cento. Lamborghini modified an old Fiat Topolino he had purchased (the first of many that he would own over the years) in his spare time. He made use of his mechanical abilities to transform the homely city car into a roaring 750-cc open-top two-seater and entered the car in the 1948 Mille Miglia. His participation ended after 1,100 kilometres (680 mi) when he ran the car into the side of a restaurant in the town of Fiano, in Turin.

In 1958, Lamborghini traveled to Maranello to buy a Ferrari 250 GT: a two-seat coupé with a body designed by coachbuilder Pininfarina. He went on to own several more over the years, including a Scaglietti-designed 250 GT SWB Berlinetta and a 250 GT 2+2 four-seater. Lamborghini thought Ferrari’s cars were good, but too noisy and rough to be proper road cars. He categorized them as repurposed track cars with poorly built interiors.

The world of bullfighting is a key part of Lamborghini’s identity. In 1962, Ferruccio Lamborghini visited the Seville ranch of Don Eduardo Miura, a renowned breeder of Spanish fighting bulls. Lamborghini, a Taurus himself, was so impressed by the majestic Miura animals that he decided to adopt a raging bull as the emblem for the auto company he would soon found.

The Iconic Riva Aquarama Lamborghini (Hull #278) was registered and delivered on 7 June 1968 to its famous owner Ferruccio Lamborghini. The boat had some specific and unique features. It was the first and only one fitted with two Lamborghini engines and it had special side railing for holding on to during waterskiing and record attempts. The engine compartment was modified to fit the engines and a special open exhaust was built just to meet Ferruccio’s demands.

After departing the automobile manufacturing business, Lamborghini continued his business activities in other areas, including his heating and air conditioning company, Lamborghini Calor. In 1969, he founded Lamborghini Oleodinamica S.p.A., a manufacturer of hydraulic valves and equipment.

During the 1970s, Ferruccio Lamborghini’s companies began to run into financial difficulties. In 1971, Lamborghini Trattori, which exported around half of its production of tractors, ran into trouble when its South African importer cancelled all its orders. In Bolivia, the new military government, which had recently staged a successful coup d’état, cancelled a large order of tractors that was being prepared for shipment in Genoa. Trattori’s unionised employees could not be laid off, putting immense strain on the company. In 1972, Lamborghini sold his entire holding in the company to rival tractor builder SAME.Soon, the entire Lamborghini group found itself in financial trouble. Development at the automaker slowed as costs were cut. Ferruccio Lamborghini began courting buyers for Automobili and Trattori, entering negotiations with Georges-Henri Rossetti, a wealthy Swiss businessman and friend. Ferruccio sold Rossetti 51% of the company for US$600,000, thereby relinquishing control of the automaker he had founded. He continued to work at the Sant’Agata factory; Rossetti rarely involved himself in Automobili’s affairs.

In 1974, Lamborghini exited the industrial world and retired to a 3 km (740 acres) estate named “La Fiorita” on the shores of Lake Trasimeno, in Castiglione del Lago, a town in the Umbria region of central Italy. Returning to his farming roots, Lamborghini delighted in hunting and producing his own wines. Lamborghini even designed his own golf course, all while continuing to manage several business interests.

After naming the Urraco after a bull breed, in 1974, Lamborghini broke from tradition, naming the Countach not for a bull, but for contacc, a Piedmontese exclamation of astonishment. Legend has it that stylist Nuccio Bertone uttered the word in surprise when he first laid eyes on the Countach prototype, “Project 112”. The LM002 sport utility vehicle and the Silhouette were other exceptions to the tradition.

At 76 years of age, on February 20, 1993, Lamborghini died at Silvestrini Hospital in Perugia after suffering a heart attack fifteen days earlier. Lamborghini is buried at the cemetery of Renazzo.

All of Ferruccio Lamborghini’s companies continue to operate today in one form or another. His son, Tonino, designs a collection of clothing and accessories under the Tonino Lamborghini brand, as well as designing the Town Life, an electric microcar which was revealed at the Bologna Motor Show in 1999. Ferruccio’s daughter, Patrizia Lamborghini, runs the Lamborghini winery on his Umbria estate. In 1995 Ferruccio’s son Tonino opened a museum that honors Lamborghini’s legacy, the Centro Studi e Ricerche Ferruccio Lamborghini in Dosso (Ferrara), which was moved to Argelato (Bologna) in 2014 with the new name Ferruccio Lamborghini Museum.