Legendary Vespa turns 80 as Rome celebrates a way of life icon

An icon of the Italian lifestyle, the Vespa celebrated its eightieth birthday on Saturday, as 1000’s of riders paraded by Rome on the legendary scooters.

A number of donned biker jackets regardless of the scorching warmth whereas others opted for t-shirts, the hum of their machines filling the capital with a vibrant buzz.

Some rode solo, others in pairs, whizzing by the town centre — even alongside streets often closed to non-public site visitors.

“We brought our Vespa over from the United States. We travelled through Germany, then via Vienna … and I then rode my Vespa from Austria to Rome, a journey that took two weeks,” Texas resident David Baamonde informed AFP-TV on Saturday.

“For me, the Vespa is a way of life, a sense of carefree living, enjoying the moment, discovering scenery — it’s a lifestyle,” stated Italian Andrea Musco.

Featuring in cinema classics like “Roman Holiday” and “La Dolce Vita”, the Vespa has a protracted affiliation with the Eternal City.

“The history of the Vespa, which accompanies the birth and rise of Italy after the Second World War, is in a way an iconic symbol of our history, of our culture,” stated Roberto Gualtieri, the Italian capital’s mayor.

‘Vespa is particular’

The Vespa, which suggests “wasp” in Italian — a reference to the sound of its engine — was born on 23 April 1946, when the primary patent for its manufacture was filed in Italy by Piaggio. It remains to be produced on the Pontedera website in Tuscany.

It was “the symbol of an Italy emerging from the war and getting back on its feet,” Gualtieri stated, including that he was “proud” that Piaggio had determined to organise the anniversary within the metropolis.

“Telling the story of 80 years of the Vespa is, in part, telling the story of how Rome has managed to capture the world’s imagination”, notably by cinema, he stated.

The celebrations started on Thursday with the inauguration of a “Vespa Village” on the Foro Italico, a sports activities advanced within the north of the capital, and culminated on Saturday with the grand parade by the streets of Rome.

Thousands of “Vespisti” from all around the globe turned up within the scooters, that are immediately recognisable due to their rounded strains, their brightly colored metallic bodywork and their spherical headlight mounted on the handlebars.

Andrew Ward, 57, and his sister Julie Stover, 63, got here from the United States and rented a Vespa in Rome to participate within the parade.

“We had scooters and motorcycles our whole lives. But I always wanted a Vespa and eventually we got Vespas. Now I have two!” Ward, an everyday at “Vespisti” gatherings in his nation, informed AFP.

“It’s a high-quality scooter. And it comes with a certain status. It’s classy, you know. It’s not like the cheapy scooters that you see on the road all the time. Vespa is special,” Stover added.

Social significance

Designed to be a well-liked and reasonably priced technique of transport, the Vespa — which benefited from all kinds of improvements derived from aviation, Piaggio’s core enterprise — additionally has social significance.

Its historical past is intertwined with “the history of a country emerging from the post-war period, that wants to move, that wants to get back up,” Matteo Colaninno, government chairman of the Piaggio group, stated on the presentation of the celebrations.

“And this desire to move is not just physical mobility,” additionally it is “a kind of drive toward economic mobility and above all social mobility,” he stated.

“Today, the Vespa has become a global phenomenon; we are on the verge of 20 million vehicles produced” since 1946, Colaninno stated.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, photographed on Thursday sitting on a white Vespa within the reception rooms of Palazzo Chigi, the primary authorities constructing, praised the well-known scooter as representing not solely “industrial excellence” but additionally “one of the most cherished Italian icons in the world, a symbol of Italian creativity and style”.

“It’s a legend,” stated Franco Gaudino, 52, chatting with AFP as he took half within the Roman occasion along with his membership from La Louviere, in Belgium.

Illac Diaz, initially from the Philippines, stated that “the nice thing about the Vespa is you bring friendship”.

“There’s no place where you park without people becoming friends. So Vespa is like a family,” stated the 52-year-old, who has simply purchased a home in Trieste, in northern Italy, the place he plans to accumulate one other Vespa as quickly as potential.