The Vespa, an all-Italian myth: do you remember it?
"I have a special vespa that takes away my problems", this is the refrain that Lunapop sang in 1999 and that, even after 20 years, continues to buzz in our heads, just like a Vespa,
the most famous scooter in the world. It is from this buzz that its name was born. Exactly! It was named so because the noise of its engine was so reminiscent of that emitted by the insect.
Roman Holiday, the film that made her famous all over the world
Who has never dreamed of driving through the streets of Rome aboard a Vespa, perhaps clinging to those who make our hearts beat faster? This image is not accidental. If you think of the Vespa, the unforgettable scene from the film "Roman Holiday" can only materialize in your head, in which Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, aboard a Vespa 125, whiz through the alleys of the Eternal City. This Oscar-winning film by William Wyler, dated 1953, has helped to make the tricolor two wheels iconic all over the world.
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"Enrico Piaggio - An Italian dream"
The Vespa is, immediately after the pizza, one of the most identifying elements of the beautiful country. To celebrate it, on Tuesday 12 November the mini fiction "Enrico Piaggio - An Italian dream" was broadcast on Rai 1, in which the history of its creation is retraced starting from the brilliant idea of a visionary entrepreneur supported by an aeronautical engineer, Corradino D'Ascanio, who knew very little about motorcycles.
History, from the past until today.
We are between 1945 and 1946, immediately after the war, when the survivors begin to roll up their sleeves to rebuild a new Italy from the rubble. Mr. Piaggio then tries to think of a project that can help his compatriots to start from scratch, with confidence in a different future, improve. He wants to create a means that workers can afford to go to work, that is convenient for women wishing to emancipate themselves from fathers and husbands and, finally, leave the house independently and, ultimately, for priests in cassock .
On 24 March 1946, the Vespa was presented for the first time at the Turin Mechanics and Metallurgy Exhibition, rightfully entering the collective imagination and never leaving it again.
The history of the Vespa continues to this day, thus uniting several generations together. In 2017, during the EICMA in Milan, the electric Vespa was presented, an alternative that is perfectly suited to the environmental needs of our times. In addition, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Vespa Club of Italy, from November 16 to February 16, 2020, visitors can visit the exhibition dedicated to the Piaggio myth at the Nicolis Museum (Villafranca di Verona).
In conclusion, the Vespa will never stop making us travel and, above all, dream.
