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Cars & Scooters: The Vespa, An Italian Classic
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'Mode': AROUND
Category: Motorcycle
Getting TO/AROUND: “Sembra una vespa!” (“It resembles a wasp!”)
— Enrico Piaggio (1905-1965), his reaction to the buzzing sound of the engine of a Vespa prototype
Romans love their Vespas. And so does the rest of the world; this icon of post-World War II Italian industrial design is the most successful motor scooter ever made. Throughout the capital large parts of the cityscape are given over the Vespa, as this line of parked vehicles near the Spanish Steps illustrates.
Emerging from the Second World War with an industrial and transportation infrastructure that lay in ruins, Italy needed a vehicle that could navigate the country’s bombed-out roads. Another consequence of the War that contributed to the Vespa’s development was Italy’s agreement with the Allies to limit its military production. The vehicle’s manufacturer, Piaggio & Co. S.p.A, turned from making fighter planes to Vespas.
It is possible to rent a Vespa while in Rome; plenty of web sites can help you find the model and terms that will suit your comfort level. You can imagine that you are Gregory Peck or Audrey Hepburn from that fabulous 1953, Academy Award-winning motion picture, “Roman Holiday” (see photo #2 the edge of the Coliseum can be seen to the right. This story was filmed on location).
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