The History of the Vespa

Based on lengthy research carried out in Piaggio’s historical archives and on an interdisciplinary approach, this book traces the genesis, the commercial success, and the making of the symbolic power of the Vespa from the foundation of the Pontedera plant in Tuscany in the 1920s to the early 1960s.

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Despite the symbolic capital and the global commercial success of the Vespa scooter, there is no academic book dealing with its history, only literature produced by the company itself or by scooter enthusiasts. The origins of the Vespa are shrouded in mist, entrusted more to myth than to historical truth. Based on lengthy research carried out in Piaggio’s historical archives and on an interdisciplinary approach, this volume aims to fill this gap. It shows how the Vespa took techniques from the most advanced aeronautical industries in the world, adapting and hybridizing them in an original way, and how the company disseminated its models in the transnational social space.