In a hilarious play on words, Milan was yesterday invaded by bees, with a bunch of them settling on a Vespa scooter in Piazza San Babila. The word for bee in Italian - “ape” - is also used for the little three-wheeled Piaggio trucks which were originally based on the Vespa scooter. “Vespa” means ‘wasp’ in Italian and we’re amused to find this nest of escaped bees settling on the namesake of a larger breed of similar insect.

Piazza San Babila is a busy spot in Milan but the entire area around this bustling underground station was cordoned off for a full six hours before a bee-keeper could be found to come and move the swarm. According to reports, with the possibility that these kinds of bees would have become extinct just a couple of years ago, their presence in our cities is a good thing…. Maybe not for the Vespa owner, though.

Bees invade Vespa scooter in Milan

Source | TG1 and TwoWheels

Continue reading: Milan invaded by bees: six hours to free a Vespa

Vespa hire in Rome is enjoying a boom time as tourists seek to relive the famous scenes from Roman Holiday - the famous film featuring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. The Hollywood actors have been immortalised in the photo and scene of the famous tour of Rome on a Vespa and the image now lives in the minds of many who visit the Eternal City.

Many hire companies have borrowed the image of Peck and Hepburn, one of which is promoting vintage Vespa tours of Rome, but with driver (I wouldn’t trust me either driving the streets of Rome with a vintage model). A tour can take about three to four hours and you can get to see some of Rome’s hidden streets that aren’t accessible to general city traffic. Other hire operations offering tours with the original Fiat 500 or even an Ape - Piaggio’s famous three-wheeled truck.

While the tour companies will tell you that Rome wasn’t designed for cars and taxis, but for carriages and Vespas, you can expect to pay modern-day prices. Anything from 130 to 150 euros a head for a trip around town on a Vespa seems to be the going price. If you want the real thing though, and a priceless image of popular culture, see the Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn famous Vespa scene in Rome after the jump.

Continue reading: Rome vintage Vespa tours: scooter hire in Rome

Vespa does the vintage look superbly and in the new Vespa LXV 125 you can have all the style on a modern scooter with electronic fuel injection. The LXV 125 is the smallest of Vespa’s vintage range, but with the new technology it has more power and better fuel efficiency.

The 60’s never looked so good with 10.7 hp and 9.6 Nm of torque to zip about the city. This LXV has a 125cc, four-stroke engine and was built at Piaggio headquarters in Pontedera. It’s already on the market for 3,990 euros and is currently available in this lovely colour of Portofino Green.

Continue reading: New Vespa vintage LXV 125 with electronic fuel injection

Travelling from Milan to Rome on a vintage Vespa was possible for Peter Moore because, basically, he bribed the Italian authorities with a pizza lunch and some red wine. It’s the start to a very good story, and some good books, about Italian bureaucracy, how to get around it (not something we always recommend) and then about enjoying a trip from Milan to Rome, a la Roman Holiday and La Dolce Vita.

You can read Peter’s story in English and Italian on Italymag, or see his own site, PeterMoore.net, for more on his travels and books. We want to leave you a note about Italian bureaucracy though - don’t always assume there is an “Italian solution” to everything. Negotiating your way around Italian authorities and out of laws that apply to everyone else takes delicacy and panache. I have neither. All I’m saying is sometimes they get mad at you, and then you’ve blown it. You can always try another office elsewhere, though. That often seems to work… The photos are of a 1963 Vespa I came across one day, as a very large ornament in a restaurant.

Continue reading: Owning a vintage Vespa in Italy: Milan to Rome on a 1961 Vespa

Yesterday we saw the Vespa video of the Piaggio museum in Italy, and today we look at another Italian motoring icon: the “ape“. The original three-wheeled trucks date back to 1948 and are still used today for useful, versatile transport. Believe me, you can do anything with an Ape.

Not just a rural vehicle for transport of goods and livestock, there was an upper class city version called the “Ape Calessino” (for more pics, see Motoblog). A new model is back from Piaggio, but this time in electric form, taking a 1960’s symbol of the dolce vita and making it ecological for 2009.

The classic diesel engine now has a friend in the Calessino Electric Lithium. This model will be a limited edition, special version costing 19,990 euros. Only 100 will be built, meaning if you want to make a statement at the beach with one of these, you’d best organise yourself. It has a discreet range of 75 km, but these quiet, non-polluting vehicles could be just the thing for a tour down the Amalfi Coast or over on Capri.

Continue reading: Dolce vita legend goes electric: Piaggio Ape Calessino Electric Lithium

This video of the Vespa museum, or Museo Piaggio, even has a few captions to help you out with the vintage Vespas on show. There is another Vespa museum in Ravenna, but if you’re looking to buy a Vespa, or at least some Vespa accessories for a souvenir, head to the Vespa store in Milan. For an idea of what it means to have a Vespa ride in Italy, check out my previous post of Milan by Vespa. If you undertake hiring a Vespa in Italy, let us know how it goes!

Source | Blog from Italy

Continue reading: Italy by Vespa: Vespa Museum in Tuscany, home of Museo Piaggio

Vespa has opened a store in Milan with a new space dedicated to Vespa history, fashion and design. The store celebrates the Vespa brand as one of the key ambassadors of the “Made in Italy” movement. The space is located at Viale Vittorio Veneto 12, in Italy’s fashion city, showing that Vespa is all about style.

The new store is designed to be a key meeting point for Vespa fans, including information, fashion and new models. The Vespa Milan store follows other successful stores in Romes, Naples and Florence. Further Vespa stores will be opening across Italy and in European capitals.

These are not just traditional scooter shops, but real Brand Centres for people looking for Vespa accessories, gear and to enjoy a little Italian style, getting to know a famous historical brand in the country. The Vespa Milan store opens today.

Continue reading: Vespa store opens in Milan

Yesterday I had my first ride ever on a Vespa in Milan and until you’ve done something like this, you won’t really understand the romance and style of this Italian tradition. I had a grin from ear to ear as we ducked through Milan’s traffic and whizzed past the trams.

The Vespa has a reassuring putt-putt-putt, making it a real protagonist in the trip - it’s like touring around with an old friend. Being on a Vespa means you’re up front with the other scooters in the city, like a starting grid for a scooter gran prix where the car traffic comes second best.

What’s more, you get a completely different perspective of a city riding a Vespa. You really get to see the people of Milan, its architecture and avenues, the grand central station looming at the end of the road; not to mention the freedom of zipping about on the surface, enjoying Milan’s city sights, rather than being underground in the dingy Milan metro stations.

So, if you don’t have an Italian friend who can take you, try renting a scooter in Italy: options include Vespa in Italy, in Milan, Florence and the Dolomites; or if you want something less like taking your life in your hands, with some great scenery, try renting a Vespa on Lake Como. Apparently there is a company called Turba which rents scooters in Bellagio.

Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: On a Vespa in Milan

While in Milan it’s traditional for women to wear stilettos when riding a Vespa, if you want something more casual (and perhaps appropriate to the situation) then Adidas have the answer.

The suede sneakers include the traditional Adidas three stripe look, along with the Vespa logo written on the side. We think Adidas and Vespa go well together, especially as we come into spring and start preparing for the best in summer looks.

The Adidas/Vespa sneakers will sell for about 100 US dollars, the only challenge should be finding a pair when these hit the market.

Source | Sneakerset

Continue reading: Vespa fashion with Adidas sneakers

An Italian legend turns 60 this year - and we’re talking about the three wheeled Italian truck called the Ape. It was developed by Piaggio in 1948 in post-war times of invention and genius. It was modelled on the idea of the Vespa and the world has since seen more than two million examples of this vehicle.

The Ape (in English, ‘bee’) is a true companion for many Italians, particularly for work, though it is also a symbol of small town life. The Ape is incredible in its modest but durable nature - if you even get stuck behind one on an Italian country road, while the experience will be frustrating, you can’t help but admire the Ape’s dogged stubborness.

The first Ape had many of Vespa’s characteristics, including handle bars and a 125cc engine. Only that behind there were two wheels and a small platform that could carry 200kg. It was an expensive purchase for a family in those days, but in another innovation from Piaggio, it adopted the American rates system of payment.

Continue reading: Italian anniversaries: the ape moped truck

Anyone who’s ever attempted driving in Italy knows that you take your life in your own hands. That is until the Italian drivers get out and then all hell breaks lose. Touring Italy on a Vespa might be very romantic, but it’s not necessarily recommended on the basis of road safety.

I don’t like to think of what this guy’s Italian scooter looked like after an accident with an armoured tank. Yes, you read that correctly: at 11am in the centre of Messina, an armoured tank and a scooter collided.

It appears that the military vehicle was part of police escorted convoy, and that in a manoeuvre it collided with a scooter who was passing at the time. Fortunately the rider wasn’t hurt, but I imagine he saw his life flash before his eyes in the form of an enormous and extremely intimidating armoured vehicle. Traffic was stopped for about half an hour and what a scooter was doing anywhere near an army tank escort is anyone’s guess.

Source | Repubblica.it
Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: Italy strange but true: armoured tank and scooter in accident

If you could name your favourite piece of Italian design, what would it be? Whatever it is, Italia Independent has got it all covered at this year’s Pitti Uomo 74, currently being held in Florence from June 17 to 21.

The Pitti Uomo event includes the UPS Fashion & Design Contest, a Walter Van Beirendonck fashion show, and this exhibition from Italia Independent, amongst many other events and exhibitors.

Italia Independent has no limits as to the merchandise on which to leave its mark. In this effort of models and prototypes created by Giugiaro Design and Changedesign, in collaboration with Fiat Group and Montecarlo Offshore, Italia Independent has personalised: a Maserati GranTurismo, a Fiat 500, a Ducati Hyperchanged, a Vespa Piaggio GTS, a Massif Iveco off-road, a carbon bicycle (Changed Bike), and a motorboat made entirely from carbon (Montecarlo Offshore).

And we were tempted to think the world of Italian design was limited to shoes and furniture…

Photos by Ginevra (thanks!)

Continue reading: The best in Italian Design: Italia Independent at the Pitti Uomo 2008, Florence