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Italy’s iconic scooter is marking its 80th anniversary this month with a major international gathering in Rome, alongside the unveiling of a large new mural in the capital’s Pigneto district.<\/p>\n
The four-day anniversary event, titled\u00a0Vespa Roma 2026 – 80 Years of an Icon<\/em>, will take place at the Foro Italico from 25-28 June, with “Vespisti<\/em>” enthusiasts expected to arrive from around the world.<\/p>\n Vespa celebrates 80 years since the first patent was filed by Piaggio on 23 April 1946. The anniversary marks a journey from practical postwar transport to global cultural icon, with total production approaching 20 million units.<\/p>\n The design was the work of aeronautical engineer Corradino D’Ascanio, who had little affection for conventional motorcycles and whose misgivings produced a masterpiece of practical engineering.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Vespa advertising campaign from the 1980s<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n He created the first motorcycle with a monocoque body, dispensing with a tubular steel frame, placing the gearchange on the handlebars, and drawing on aircraft landing gear for the front suspension.<\/p>\n When Enrico Piaggio saw the prototype, he reportedly exclaimed, “It looks like a wasp!” –\u00a0Sembra una vespa!<\/em>\u00a0– giving the vehicle its name.<\/p>\n Production began in Pontedera, Tuscany, with an initial hand-beaten batch of 60 units. By 1947 output had grown to 20,000 units per year, and by 1956 – just a decade after its birth – the one millionth Vespa had rolled off the production line.<\/p>\n More than two million units have been produced in the last decade alone, and the brand remains one of the most recognisable in the world.<\/p>\n Today Vespa is manufactured at three sites: in Pontedera for European and Western markets, in Vinh Phuc in Vietnam for the Far East, and at the Baramati plant in India.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Alongside the main event, Vespa has commissioned a new piece of urban art in\u00a0Rome’s Pigneto neighbourhood, at\u00a0Via Fortebraccio 19.<\/p>\n Vespa mural by Federico Epis in Pigneto<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Italian illustrator Federico Epis has created a monumental mural, in collaboration with urban creativity company Outdoora.<\/p>\n The work reinterprets the imagery of Roman Holiday in a contemporary register, depicting two young people on a Vespa Primavera 80th edition against a backdrop featuring Rome landmarks including the dome of St Peter’s.<\/p>\n Photos courtesy Vespa<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rome hosts global celebrations and unveils new Vespa mural. Italy’s iconic scooter is marking its 80th anniversary this month with a major international gathering in Rome, alongside the unveiling of a large new mural in the capital’s Pigneto district. The four-day anniversary event, titled\u00a0Vespa Roma 2026 – 80 Years of an Icon, will take place<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[30086,16787,7687,10322,2423,8743,8895,2128],"class_list":["post-46102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eventi","tag-enthusiasts","tag-gather","tag-iconic","tag-mark","tag-rome","tag-scooter","tag-vespa","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/polinex.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/polinex.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/polinex.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/polinex.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/polinex.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/polinex.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/polinex.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/polinex.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/polinex.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/polinex.cluster021.hosting.ovh.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Origins<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Rome mural<\/strong><\/h3>\n