AFP, ROME
An icon for the Italian way of life, the Vespa celebrated its 80th birthday with thousands of drivers expected to zip around Rome in the legendary scooters yesterday.Featuring in cinema classics such as Roman Holiday and La Dolce Vita, the Vespa has a long association 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,” Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri said.
Vespa scooters are parked in front of the Vespa Village during celebrations for the 80th anniversary of the scooter in Rome on Thursday.
The Vespa, which means “wasp” in Italian — a reference to the sound of its engine — was born on April 23, 1946, when the first patent for its manufacture was filed in Italy by motor vehicle maker Piaggio. It is still produced at the Pontedera site in Tuscany.
It was “the symbol of an Italy emerging from the war and getting back on its feet,” Gualtieri said, adding that he was “proud” that Piaggio had decided to organize the anniversary in the city.“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,” particularly through cinema, he said.The four days of celebrations began on Thursday with the inauguration of a “Vespa Village” at the Foro Italico, a sports complex in the north of the capital, and was to culminate yesterday with a grand parade through the streets of Rome.More than 10,000 “Vespisti” from all over the globe are expected to turn up in the scooters, which are instantly recognizable because of their rounded lines, brightly colored metal bodywork and round headlight mounted on the handlebars.Andrew Ward, 57, and his sister Julie Stover, 63, came from the US and rented a Vespa in Rome to take part in 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!” said Ward, a regular at “Vespisti” gatherings in his country.“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.Designed to be a popular and affordable means of transport, the Vespa also has social significance.Its history is intertwined with “the history of a country emerging from the post-war period, that wants to move, that wants to get back up,” Piaggio Group executive chairman Matteo Colaninno said.“And this desire to move is not just physical mobility,” it is also “a kind of drive toward economic mobility and above all social mobility,” he said.“Today, the Vespa has become a global phenomenon; we are on the verge of 20 million vehicles produced” since 1946, Colaninno said.Illac Diaz, originally from the Philippines, said 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,” Diaz said.
