There is nothing to suggest, from the outside, that there is anything different about Room 200 at Hotel Castello on the outskirts of the pretty little spa town of Castel San Pietro Terme, a few miles from Bologna.

The bedroom door is as plain and unremarkable as every other door in the modest hotel. Its windows do not have a view to speak of, because there is nothing much to see out here on the edge of town.

But inside, the suite of three rooms has been preserved — with the addition of a flat screen television — the way it was when Ayrton Senna, the man who many still believe to be the greatest racing driver ever, walked out of that door on the morning of May 1, 1994, and never returned.

The plain white decor is the same, the wardrobe with its light brown lacquered finish and its five shallow drawers is the same, the Japanese frieze above the bed, with four panels featuring scenes of the moon and mountains and a spindly tree clinging to the slopes, is the same, too.

The massage couch in the adjoining room is still there. Even the bath, a kind of mini-jacuzzi, has been kept the way it was when Senna left that morning to make the short journey to the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, where he would start on the 65th pole position of his illustrious career for the San Marino Grand Prix.

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Ayrton Senna pictured watching qualifying at the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola in 1994 – the day before the Brazilian Formula One star was killed after his car left the track at Tamburello

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Room 200 at Hotel Castello in Castel San Pietro Terme, where Senna stayed before his crash

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Images of Senna adorn the dining room at the hotel, which seems to exist as a time capsule

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The hotel features a glass cabinet of Senna memorabilia in tribute to the champion driver