ING. FABIO TAGLIONI

Memories of a legend

The sound was deafening but enthralling. 5000 Ducatis revved up in unison to honour one man. This was the homage Ducati owners paid to Ing. Fabio Taglioni at the World Ducati Weekend in June 1997. Misano throbbed, and ten minutes later there was total silence. So quiet it was almost eerie. No one has stamped their mark on Ducati more than Fabio Taglioni. While he will always be remembered for desmodromic valve gear, Dr.T as he has become known, was in many ways the father of Ducati. For a man with such a following Taglioni was surprisingly humble. He had time to talk of the past and is magnanimous. As such he was revered at Borgo Panigale, and throughout the world.

I was fortunate that through my journey into researching Ducati’s history I got to know Fabio Taglioni reasonably well. It began on trips to the Ducati factory in a time when very few foreigners ventured to Bologna and the factory cafeteria occupied most of the front ground floor. From the 1970s through to the 1990s the cafeteria was a central hub and even luminaries like Taglioni and Franco Farnè often eschewed the formal executive dining room next door to mix with the workers and technicians. This was how I first met Taglioni and Farnè, and over the years our friendship expanded to the stage where I would visit him at him home. There was one memorable lunch but that is a story for another time.