The first Vespa of 1946. Piaggio di Pontedera produced airplanes. After the war, he had to invent a new product, or he risked closing down. Someone, remembering the small scooters used by paratroopers in airports, had an idea: to adapt the starters left in the warehouses, mount them on an unusual-looking body (it resembled an insect: hence, the name Vespa), and produce a cheap vehicle. It worked beyond all expectations.
shadow carousel
The Vespa turns 75, all the most iconic models: from the Vacanze Romane to the 50 Special and the PX
The Vespa liked immediately. The Italians could go quickly to work and then, on Sundays, go to the fields as a couple: they just needed to bring a blanket. Women liked the Vespa, because it allowed them to ride on it with a skirt. It was liked by the priests, who then wore the cassock. It possessed the advantages of the motorcycle (low fuel consumption, little bulk, pleasure in the open air), but not the drawbacks (it was light, not very noisy, protected from mud).
Protagonist of ninety films, enlisted by Prime Minister De Gasperi (thanks to my government for having given the motor scooter to the people), praised by Pius XII (The scooter has raised the standard of living of social categories that cannot have more expensive means), the Vespa proves one thing: when we Italians choose simple things, we are unbeatable. the mental baroque that gets us into trouble.
When I bought my first Vespa in 1975, of course, I didn’t know these things: I wouldn’t care. A formidable, tireless, pot-bellied TS 125 cc, white. With that I started traveling. I was a bulimic traveler, mesmerized by the odometer. I was enthusiastic, reckless, adventurous and careless. Follow me on this photographic tour, I will prove it to you.
1. Santa Teresa di Gallura, 1977
Behind me Francesco Lotito, now an esteemed children’s orthopedist in Naples. Please observe the quantity and arrangement of your baggage. If the European Motorcycle Instability Championship had existed, we would have won it. The helmets were repainted every year with the spray can, to hide the scratches that had been made by falling and rolling here and there. K-way windproof, wide. Mirrored glasses. Sweatpants (the passenger) and white breeches (the driver). If Borat had seen us, he would have immediately invited us to the glorious nation of Kazakhstan.
2. Alicante, 1978
Alicante lies in the southeast of Spain. From Crema it is 1,552 kilometers away, and with a 125 cc Vespa we could not travel on the motorway. We got there by traveling on the state roads. Then, on that beach, it seemed to be the moment of photography. On the left is Giampaolo Masia, known as the Magician (a lover of the Ramones, for a long time a collaborator of Corriere). At the center Stefano Nava (at the time a promise of football, today full and primary professor of pulmonology at Sant’Orsola in Bologna). I’m on the right. How not to travel by motorcycle: tank top and shorts, only flip-flops are missing. Helmet? Hair in the wind was more important then than a straight head.
3. Spain-France border, 1978
Today I can say it: bare-chested driving stupid and dangerous. But then I did, and I was also satisfied with the tan. Observe how we protected the luggage (bags, tent, sacks and fur) from the rain: with the black garbage bags.
4. Vienna, 1978
From Crema, a day and a night of travel: it was my way of reacting to the disappointments of love. With me Massimiliano Chiodo, high school friend, physics and computer science student (he has lived in Silicon Valley for thirty years). The yellow suits? They were those of the cleaners on the oil tankers: they cost less than motorcyclist suits. The petrol tank tied to the roof rack? Unconscious: but then no one said anything. The Austrians saw us pass, and waved goodbye.
5. Spanish Pyrenees, 1979
Behind me Cristina Arcelloni, today a developmental therapist. Driving the second Vespa Adriano Erata (the most beautiful friend I’ve ever had: I used to sell his photos to girls). The group was larger and included a car. But who would have wanted to travel in a car? Too comfortable, and no wind in your face.
April 23, 2021 | 06:36
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