Vespa: 70 years in the hearts of Italians

Vespa - "The Vespa's birthday tells us that Italy can make it, if we stop crying about it on". Thus Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Pontedera for the 70th anniversary of Vespa Piaggio. "Thanks to the Vespa, Italy got back on track“, Renzi then said, referring to the year of birth of the vehicle, 1946. “The 'Hello'?. I had the 'Grillo'…” he says referring to the names of two mopeds that were in vogue a few decades ago. “Do you remember the 'Grillo'? Here – Renzi said jokingly – I was the only one who had the 'Grillo' and everyone made fun of me... Today, yes lends itself to political evaluations. But I was the only one who had the Grillo.”

"The Vespa is seventy years old. Truly a positive myth, which is very useful to remember and boast about in order to build the future starting from precious reference points". The mayor of Pisa, Marco Filippeschi, stated this in a note, celebrating the 70 years of the Piaggio scooter. According to the mayor of Pisa, that of seventy years ago was "a turning point in the customs of the people, for a great inventionne". "A large company, Piaggio of Pontedera, which has roots in our land of Pisa, in Tuscany, the Italian creative and innovative genius of Corradino D'Ascanio, and of many after him, and the pride of work and workers, of a working-class tradition from which, as times have changed, we still have much to learn." concludes Filippeschi.

"The Vespa is the only mechanical product that has lasted 70 years without changing, its design is always the same. It is the expression of an extraordinary act of genius. It is the fruit all over the world of an interest that is linked to happiness, to doing beautiful things. Vespa is continuing to grow and enter new markets". Piaggio president and CEO Roberto Colaninno said this on the occasion of the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the Vespa in the presence of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Colaninno then underlined, addressing the mayor of Pontedera, that "we are not leaving Pontedera. For us Pontedera is Vespa and for Piaggio the Vespa is the fundamental element. It is Piaggio's heritage“. At the end of his speech, addressing Prime Minister Renzi, Colaninno observed: "I really envy his energy. I had it too. Now I'm getting closer to the Vespa in age. So I appeal to his energy because Italy must grow with the products that it has been able to express and which are extraordinary and which do not have to fear competition from anyone".