June 12 Firenze via Pontedera

Vespa - the wasp

Enrico Piaggio - a creative man

Today we set off on a drive through Tuscany to Florence in order to catch a flight to Sicily. En route however we visited Piaggio Museum which was opened in 2000 in the building that used to be the tooling workshop. We were there to see the Vespas, the iconic Italian bike. Vespa, meaning ‘wasp’ in Italian so named because of its wide central part where the rider sits and the ‘narrow’ waist, was the invention of Enrico Piaggio who wanted to make a vehicle for the masses. What a success story! The design was born or rather launched in April 1946.  A year later on 20 April 1947 (an historic day!) a specially designed Vespa made its debut into the world of racing in Naples.  Since then, 2 specially-equipped Vespas have set 18 world records. These fierce buzzing machines have done all sorts of things including a number of epic world tours. It was quite exciting seeing those bikes that had been ridden all over the world. Piaggio even designed a model during the war that could be used as a rocket launcher - it remained as a prototype. From the ‘sublime’ to the ridiculous - the Vespa 180 Super Sport was transformed by Piaggio and by the English factory Alpha Wallis to race along the road, fly like a helicopter, sail and dive like a submarine. All for a movie! What fun they must have had.  We went crazy taking photos but here is just a selection for you to enjoy!

Stickers from many Vespa clubs around the world

After a number of trips to Europe and Africa, Fabio Salini rode this bike 40,000 km through Eurasia, Middle East and South East Asia to Australia then he shipped the bike to Chile to ride around South America.

This bike - a world hero in my book! Writer and journalist Giorgio Bettinelli
who has been described as an accidental Vesparado, has ridden all over the world.

From September 1995 to September 1996 on this bike, Bettinelli rode 52,000 km from Melbourne to Cape Town via the natural bridge of the Indonesian archipelago, Singapore, Malaysia to the Sinai Peninsula and through Africa from the Suez Canal to the Cape of Good Hope. The travel bug still buzzing in him, in 1997 he road this same bike from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, from Australia to South Africa, from Chile to Tasmania, through North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania. One trip! Man wish that I were 40 years younger.

A portion of the money from every VESPARED purchased goes to support the
Global Fund to end AIDS

Vespa 400 - cute as a button

Built for almost every situation

In the 1950s the French Defence Ministry commissioned Piaggio to produce a vehicle for military use. The result was this the Vespa 150 Troupes Aéroportées. About 600 units were produced from 1956 to 1959 and used by the Foreign Legion and French paratroopers. It could be parachuted and had a 75mm cannon (without recoil), six rounds of ammunition and two fuel jerrycans, and a small trolley. It could reach 60 km/h and go 200 km without refueling.

The remodelled, revamped, souped-up version of the Vespa 180 Super Sport

The Piaggio factory today

Not just motorbikes

In the mid-30s Piaggio was the first Italian manufacturer of locomotives, electric trains and ordinary carriages to be built entirely of stainless steel. In 1937, Piaggio supplied the Calabro-Lucane Railway Company with ten stainless steel electric trains, the first ever mass-produced in Italy.

Some of the many uses of Vespa vehicles. Top L a book shop. Top R this cutie was made under licence in Indian for the Indian market

The variety was amazing

Top. This was the first motorcycle built in 1909 by Giuseppe Gilera; the Gilera company was taken over in late 60s by Piaggio. The first single-cylinder machines built by Gilera borrowed their general structure directly from the bicycle. At the Bottom. This futuristic looking bike was a winner recorded at 272 Kph in 1936.

Gilera bikes.

We were very privileged to have had access to this museum as the day we went it was closed to the public. Our driver appealed to the manager and I think because we had come so far (from Australia!) he let us in to wander as we liked for an hour. How lucky were we (others had banged on the door to no avail). It was a fantastic visit.