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TANTI AUGURI VESPA
1956 Enrico Piaggio festeggia la produzione della milionesima Vespa
Vespa is a line of motorcycles first manufactured in Pontedera (Italy) in 1946 by Piaggio & Co, S.p.A, and is undoubtedly the most famous motorcycle brand in the world.
The presentation of the first fifteen Vespa scooters took place on April 23, 1946 at the Rome Golf Club. The creators of the new scooter were the entrepreneur Enrico Piaggio and the aeronautical engineer Corradino D’Ascanio. And since 1964, around 3.5 million units are recorded to have been created.
Although the first Vespa was manufactured in 1946, to know the exact origins of the company we have to go back to 1884, when Rinaldo Piaggio founded in Genoa a boat manufacturing company that later expanded with the railroad industry, the manufacturing of vans, buses, and all kinds of engines.
Later, with the arrival of World War I, the Piaggio company began to manufacture airplanes and hydroplanes, and grew industrially, acquiring new facilities such as the Pisa plant in 1917 and four years later the Pontedera plant, which became the center of aeronautical production.
World War II was very hard for Piaggio, since, being one of the main Italian aircraft manufacturers, both civil and military, its factories were bombed and were left in a very critical situation after the war. It was in this context that Rinaldo’s sons, Enrico and Armando, started the industrial conversion. It was Enrico in particular who had the privileged vision of creating a low-cost vehicle, ideal for a country coming out of a hard war. He gave shape to his intuition thanks to the collaboration of the aeronautical engineer and inventor Corradino D’ Ascanio, with whom he created a prototype known as the MP5, a scooter based on the small motorcycles of the paratrooper corps, nicknamed Paperino, the Italian name
for Donald Duck, due to its peculiar shape, until it later became today’s Vespa.
There are a thousand stories about the Vespa, but nothing as comparable as the story of Antonio Veciana and Santiago Guillén, 20-year-old students, who came from Albacete to Madrid and after seeing the movie Around the World in 80 Days wanted to do the same feat but on a motorcycle and also try to do it in less time.
They planned the trip and spent two years trying to get help from different government sponsors. They called this project “Operation Elcano”, contacted Paola Piaggio (Enrico Piaggio’s wife), and got a Vespa 150 that was a gift from Piaggio Spain and the scooter was also baptized with the great name of Dulcinea.
But ambitious as they were, they did not stop there, they went to Cadaqués and got Dalí himself to paint the Vespa with his name and Gala’s name on each side. With the Vespa artwork, they left on July 25, 1962, to travel the world. Their journey began in France, then followed Italy, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Hong Kong, Honolulu, the USA, and
England. A total of 79 days of travel, one less than the great Phileas. You can find out all about this trip in the book “79 days: Around the World on a Vespa”.
The Vespa painted by Dali is currently in the Piaggio Museum.
Esta motocicleta ha ido convirtiéndose en la más This scooter has become more and more famous due to the great collaborations it has made, both in films and with world celebrities. Some clear examples of films where the Vespa has been present are Roman Holiday (William Wyler), undoubtedly the film most linked to the Vespa released in 1954. In addition, there is La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini 1960) and Under the Tuscan sun (Audrey Wells, 2003), among others, as well as Spanish films such as Amanece que no es Poco (Jose Luis Cuerda, 1989).
Going deeper into the historical films, there is a long list in which this motorcycle has been used, most of them between the 50s and 60s, but even nowadays it is paid tribute as a clear example in the recent Disney movie Luca, where the famous animated film company wanted to pay tribute to this emblematic motorcycle.
Emporio Armani also signed a 946 model, when the Armani Foundation was 40 years old and it was the 130th anniversary of the Piaggio group.
This year is undoubtedly a very special year for them, they celebrate 75 years since its creation and have decided to launch a limited edition for all lovers of this motorcycle, with a design very similar to the classic Vespa, enhanced in many ways, but maintaining the essence that has always characterized the Italian company.
We will see how this emblematic motorcycle will improve in the coming years of constant changes in the automotive world, as the hybrid era is more than present today and the electric era is on its way.