1. Vespa was born on 23rd of April 1946, catering for a post-war, poor but energetic country, in need of everything but ready to start over afresh.
2. Piaggio, the maker of Vespa, was a naval and aeronautical company and had nothing to do with two-wheeled motor vehicles.
3. Vespa was designed by the engineer Corradino D’Ascanio, who had previously designed the first Italian helicopter.
4. D’Ascanio was a real genius and was eager to try any manual possible work. He played violin, embroidered and did crochet.
5. D’Ascanio thought all motorbikes were uncomfortable and dirty and tried to design a different one.
6. The name (wasp) comes from the sound the scooter made when first presented to mr Enrico Piaggio. The first name was MP6.
7. Vespa has a bigger brother called Ape (meaning ‘bee’), once very widespread among electrician, grocer and workers, now very fashionable as a little movable shop for spritz-makers and fashion small retailers.
8. Luca Capocchiano is touring the world with his 40 year old Vespa 125. He left Genoa, his native town, six months ago and is now in Singapore, heading to Australia. Luca is a mechanical engineer who worked for Ferrari and he’s fulfilling his long-awaited dream. You can follow his steps on his Facebook page or his blog.
