The new Museo Piaggio

The Museum’s collection is enriched by the products that have made the success of the company in the personal transport sector from 1946: the Ape (of which various models are displayed, including the 1953 Cassone, the 1856 Calessino, the “fireproof” version of the Pentarò launched in 1962 and a beautiful version of the entirely hand painted “Sicilian cart”), the mopeds (from the 1955 prototype to the Ciao introduced in 1967), the Vespa 400cc (a small car that Piaggio produced from 1957 to 1961 in the ACMA plant in France) and the Moscone (“the Sea Vespa”, outboard motor launched in 1949).

The first motorcycle to be built by Giuseppe Gilera opens a chronological pathway, illustrated with images from the Gilera Historic Archive, which takes in many of the bikes that have contributed to the history of the Arcore motorcycle firm, acquired by Piaggio in 1969.
The 1909 VT 317, the flagship, is characterised by transmission from the crankshaft to the rear wheel using a leather belt and presents a very advanced engine with two overhead valves and large fins on the cylinder and head.
1920s and 30s Gilera production is represented by the 350 Super Sport and the 500 VL Sei Giorni. Following on from the essentially experimental creations of the 1933-34 period, the overhead valve engine – identified with the letters VT – was definitively launched as a standard product in 1935. Among others, the Museum exhibits 500 VT Bitubo models, with their ‘fish tail’ double exhaust with rhomboidal profile, and the 500 Otto Bulloni.
A unique example in this collection is the Gilera Rondine (also exhibited with a fairing), the bike that changed the sporting destiny of the Arcore manufacturer, smashing the 50 and 100 kilometre, and the 50 and 100 mile records, as well as the speed record in 1937, reaching 274 km/h. From then on, the Rondine’s career was studded with speed records and legendary feats such as Monza in 1937 and, that same year, the Milan-Taranto. The next testament to the success of the Gilera brand is the 500 Saturno Sport, launched in 1940, one of the world’s most famous bikes. Of the racing bikes prepared by Giuseppe Gilera for the racing “giant”, there is the Saturno Sanremo and the Saturno Piuma, officially presented in 1952 and a race winner up until 1957. The Piaggio Museum collection also includes the 1952 Saturno Cross, with the racing version of the engine with alloy cylinder, and the 175 Regolarità from 1956.
The efforts and victories at racetracks around the world are represented by models such as the 125 and 175 twins and the queen, the 500 Quattro Cilindri, also in a side-car version.
The Gilera Quattro Cilindri is one of the most successful, well-known and celebrated bikes of all time, a winner from 1949 to 1957. Years in which it won 6 Riders’ World Titles and 5 Manufacturers’ World Titles in the 500 class. This, in addition to 6 Italian championships, 7 Grand Prix of Nations as well as many other podiums. In 1956 and 1957, the Quattro Cilindri side-car twice won the Grand Prix of Nations, with driver Albino Milani and his brother Rossano reaching speeds of 190 km/h, exceeding the average of 160 km/h for a Monza lap.
There is also a very recently restored series of race models from the 1980s and 90s.
Fans will be particularly moved as they admire the bike with which Marco Simoncelli scored Gilera its 14th world title in the 250 class in 2008.
Exhibited for the first time are some of the bikes built for the Italian Army and Finance Police, stand-outs including the Gilera Saturno 500 Militare and the 300 Bicilindrica Guardia di Finanza.

Another interesting area of the Museum looks at the relationship between the timeless legend of the Vespa and various forms of artistic expression, notably contemporary art and cinema. The core of the exhibit is a real gem in the collection: the Vespa Dalì, a 150 S scooter on which two students from Madrid, Santiago Guillén and Antonio Veciana, undertook a “round-the-world-in-79 days” trip in 1962. In the “mythological” re-interpretation by Volterran artist Mino Trafeli, an elongated Vespa PX with alabaster insets is turned into an authentic work of art, created for an anthology of the artist’s work held at the Piaggio Museum in 2003. This now well-established tradition means the section is constantly expanded and renewed, with the acquisition of new Vespa scooters in re-interpretations by the various artists hosted by the Museum, beginning with the Vespa created in 2010 by Ugo Nespolo for the exhibition The Vespa and the Movies. A separate area is devoted to the cinema – which has played a vital role in building the Vespa ‘legend’ around the world – with a number of vehicles used in well-known movies and a touch-screen monitor where visitors can watch some of the most memorable movie scenes in the history of cinema starring the Vespa: Roman Holidays (1953), Alfie, La Dolce Vita (1960), Quadrophenia (1979), as well as Nanni Moretti’s Caro Diario (1993) and Sydney Pollack’s The Interpreter (2005). The section also presents Vespa interpretations by prominent artists like Giampaolo Talani and Luca Moretto and several Vespa ET4 scooters created in 2001 by young designers for the “VespArte” competition organised by Piaggio.

Piaggio has developed upgraded engines for competitive events since 1947, and has taken part in races throughout Italy, believing racing triumphs to be an important tool to publicise the quality and performance of the Vespa. The Piaggio Museum has a number of outstanding pieces in its collection. Two different models of the Vespa 98 Corsa of 1947, on which Giuseppe Cau rode to victory in the Monte Mario and Rocca di Papa hillclimbs. The stunning “alloy frame” Vespa 125 Corsa from 1949, built with the aluminium alloy used for aircraft bodies and assembled with alloy rivets, adopting a technological solution that was cutting edge at the time. The Vespa Montlhéry, winner of 17 world records on the French circuit in 1950. The Vespa Siluro designed by Corradino d’Ascanio, with which test rider Dino Mazzoncini broke the standing kilometer speed record on 9 February 1951, on the Rome-Ostia road, with a time of 21.4 seconds and an average speed of 171.1 km/h. The Vespa Sei Giorni, star of one of the Piaggio team’s most important successes, with nine gold medals won in the “XXVI International Six Days” event in Varese in 1951.