MC20

The MC20 is the supercar that brought dream-car building back to Modena, and Gallura is where it all makes sense: granite outcrops, tight corners, sudden straights that open out over the sea. Butterfly doors rising in front of a Porto Cervo hotel are pure cinema, but it is on the climb to San Pantaleo, threading between the rock spires, that the carbon-fibre monocoque shows why this car weighs so little and changes direction so quickly.

There is a practical advantage too: Sardinian distances are short and the scenery reinvents itself every twenty minutes. In a single day the MC20 moves from inland hairpins to the coast road at Baja Sardinia without ever leaving its element. To pick the right stretches before you set off, you will find routes and stopping points in our guide to the most beautiful roads in Sardinia to drive in a supercar.

The 630 hp Nettuno V6 carries Formula 1-derived pre-chamber combustion, and you can tell: throttle response is immediate, almost nervy, the turbos whistling just behind your head as the revs climb furiously to the limiter. This is not an engine in search of melody — its voice is raw, metallic, road-racer to the core, and it fills the two-seat cabin without a hint of artifice.

The 2.9-second sprint to 100 km/h tells only half the story. The other half belongs to the eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox, which in Corsa mode slots gears with calibrated violence, and to the light, direct steering that makes the MC20 feel more compact than it is. Rear-wheel drive demands respect on the exit of Gallura's tighter corners — and that is exactly what makes it memorable.

The Cielo adds an electrochromic glass roof that disappears in around a dozen seconds and, even when closed, switches from opaque to transparent at a touch. At night, on the drive back towards Porto Rotondo, steering by starlight is a luxury that resists description: it has to be experienced.

The coupé remains the purist's choice, its clean silhouette shaped in the wind tunnel and its small front compartment joining the one behind the engine for luggage. Both belong to LSM Car Luxury's selection of supercars for rent in Sardinia and to the Maserati range, within a fleet of more than 100 models and over 150 versions.