At the Piaggio Museum, history and myth of the Vespa

What it is and where it is

Pontedera is located along the route of the ancient Via Pisana, which connected Florence to the sea by descending the course of the Arno. The town's name anticipates its location astride the mouth of the Era, which springs from the Colline Metallifere, behind Volterra, fifty kilometers to the south. In the twentieth century Pontedera became the town of Piaggio: first an aeronautical industry and since the last post-war period an emblem of mobility on two wheels with the Vespa, the scooter that has toured the world.

Why it is special

Pontedera is the destination of a sort of secular pilgrimage that takes place at the Piaggio Museum, set up in a section of today's industrial complex: the absolute protagonist is, of course, the Vespa, in its historical evolution and in the most varied interpretations; then there is its closest relative, the Ape, a commercial tricycle of similar multifarious and ubiquitous fortune. Framing the picture are the group's other brands - Aprilia, Gilera, Moto Guzzi - with all they represent in the history of motorcycling.