‘Where Ducatista fear to tread’: We step inside the dangerous world of unbridled Ducati personalisation and temptation. Welcome to Unica...

Addiction is a cruel mistress – or master, depending on your preference – and whatever form it takes, you can be pretty certain that you’ll be financially poorer eventually, even if your happiness barometer enjoys numerous endorphin- releasing spikes as a result.

If Ducati motorcycles are your drug of choice, then there’s a small room deep in bowels of the Borgo Panigale factory near Bologna that promises highs most will only ever dream of. What could be more alluring for the committed Ducatista than being able to spec your own unique factory-built customised bike while sitting right within the core of Ducati’s DNA?

Few ever get the chance. While Ducati’s Unica programme is technically available to anyone with the money and desire to co-create the bike of their dreams with the factory designers, the reality is that build slots are strictly limited.

While we don’t have the cash to be amongst the few, Ducati Centro Stile Director, Andrea Ferraresi, let us dream for a few hours as he welcomed us into the inner sanctum of Ducati’s design centre to tell the inside story of Unica.