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In the summer of 1965, as a recent high school grad, I decided to make a significant purchase. My buddy, Richie Downs, had an old Vespa motor scooter. It gave him a degree of freedom while providing lots of fun. To me, that was a combination that seemed hard to beat, so I plopped down $450 and bought myself a brand-new, red, 125cc, 1965 Vespa. It w...

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Vespa, the iconic Italian scooter, celebrates 75 years since the first patent was presented by Piaggio on 23 April 1946. One of the top Made in Italy brands, Vespa's landmark birthday coincides with the milestone of reaching 19 million scooters produced, with the vehicles sold in 83 countries worldwide. Vespas have been manufactured, uninterrupted...

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Vespa is a brand name that immediately brings an exact image to mind. All it takes is the word and we see Audrey Hepburn smiling from behind the handlebars of an original Vespa, cruising through the streets of Rome. Patented on April 23, 1946, the original Piaggio Vespa has sold over 18 million units in various editions and models up to the present...

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A classic, an icon, it shaped Italy’s post-World War II pop culture, starring in one of the world’s favorite films and defining the Bel Paese in both image and reality. It is nothing if not an international symbol of Made in Italy style and design. Historical and Social Context With its musically-flowing yet minimalist lines and its practical funct...

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They’re cheap. They’re nimble. They’re relatively low-maintenance. (Most) everyone thinks they’re adorable, rather than a menace. Scooters may not have the gravitas of automobiles and motorcycles, but there’s no better way to get to the post office, the grocery store and the bagel shop in less than 20 minutes. Here are five I’m looking forward to t...

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When Ape was born, Vespa was only two years old and had already found a place in the heart of Italians, who had been getting back on their feet after the tragedy of war. Piaggio asked engineer Corradino D’Ascanio yet another creative effort and he didn’t disappoint: using Vespa as an inspiration, he conceived the first model of a three-wheel van Pi...

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Seventy two years after launching the iconic Vespa scooter, Italian motor vehicle company Piaggio has unveiled its newest creation: A robot designed to help you get around without a car at all. Piaggio Fast Forward, Piaggio’s American sibling established in 2015, has been testing the Gita, a two-foot-high, two-wheeled mobile carrying robot, out of...

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The Vespa Club of America is excited to announce our 2018 donation drive. For the first time ever, your donations to the Vespa Club of America (a registered 501(c)7 organization) earn you chances to win a BRAND NEW 2018 Vespa Primavera 150cc scooter!  Donations can be made online through our partner RallyUp or through the Vespa Club of America webs...

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Developed by Piaggio Group, the Vespa Elettrica is a silent, fully electric scooter with acceleration capabilities in line with those of traditional scooters, according to Vespa. It has a 62-mile range and can be fully charged in just four hours through a normal wall-mounted electrical outlet. The battery will reportedly last around 10 years, but w...

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The Piaggio Group with Piaggio Fast Forward (PFF), the Boston-based company that runs the group’s center for research into mobility for the future, has taken part in the World Frontiers Forum being held in Cambridge and at Harvard University (October 1-3), and is the only Italian organization at the debate. Founded by Dennis Ausiello (Harvard Medic...

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