The Piaggio Museum is located in Pontedera. The visit, enjoyable for children as well as for adults, makes a pleasant stop en route to Florence from Pisa or vice versa, or a diversion during a summer holiday along the Tuscan coast or among Tuscany's many ancient museums and art cities.

Address: Museo Piaggio "Giovanni Alberto Agnelli" viale Rinaldo Piaggio 7 - 56025 Pontedera (PI).

OPENING HOURS

From Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The second Sunday of each month The Museum is closed Saturdays from 1.00 to 2.00 p.m. Free admission

Guided tours upon request (museo@museopiaggio.it): Groups up to 10 people: 20 € Groups up to 20 people: 40 € Groups up to 30 people: 50 € Schools: 20 € up to 30 students

The Museum wil be closed on: January 1 January 6 Easter Day and Easter Monday April 25 May 1 August 15 Second Thursday in October (Patron Saint Day) 8 December 25 December 26 December CONTACTS

+39 0587 27.17.1 +39 0587 29.00.57

museo@museopiaggio.it

Opening hours for exhibitions and other events are subject to change. Please call the Museum for information.

The archives have been the fundamental stone in the Piaggio Museum project. The first footsteps were made in 1992 and in 1993 when historical research on the origins of the firm was carried out. A convention between the Piaggio and the university in Pisa was stipulated to develop the project and subsequently a first publishing result went out in the volume "A Legend towards the Future." In the papers of the archives people and situations that have marked the history of communication in Italy come to life again. Today the Historical Archives is named after Antonella Bechi Piaggio, and it is continuously updated and expanded.

Established in 1884 in Sestri Ponente, an industrial suburb of Genoa, it soon became the most sought after naval outfitting company in the area. The Great War of 1914 increased the demand for the construction of traditional means of transport, such as trains and ships, as well as for planes, which represented the new revolution in transport. Piaggio started to manufacture engines and aircraft. In 1924 the company took over a factory in Pontedera. During World War II the conflict directly involved the Piaggio factory because of its strategic production to the war effort. The factory and the whole town of Pontedera were bombed.

1946 The birth of the Vespa, the famous two-wheeler, is a new beginning for Piaggio, which, in fact, abandoned the previous production to embark on a new type of scooter production. 1948 The Vespa became a social phenomenon and synonymous with freedom, usability, work and leisure. In 1950, this scooter became famous in France, Germany, England and Spain. 1957 The Vespa 400, designed by Corrado D'Ascano, was presented for the first time in 1957 in Monte Carlo, earning itself a huge success with the public. 1969 The Piaggio company acquired Gilera, a famous motorbike manufacturer.

The Vespa is the most popular model of Piaggio scooter, designed and patented on April 23, 1946 by the aeronautical engineer Corrado D'Asconio. It was created with the goal of becoming a low-cost consumer product. A total of 17 million Vespas have been sold in the history of this vehicle, a model that in the post-war period has been the means of transport of most Italian families: from 1946 to 1965 3,350,000 Vespas were sold, practically one for every 52 inhabitants.

On permanent display in the museum are the following models: •Vespa •Gilera • More than 100 other models

"There  are  moments,  in  the  history  of  companies  as  well  as  in  the  history  of  men,  when  

you  have  to  stop  for  a  moment,  to  think  about  the  path  undertaken.  And  this,  not  only  

to  keep  memory  alive,  give  way  to  nostalgia  and  weigh  out  successes  and  errors,  but  to  

understand  the  value  of  what  has  been  done,  giving  full  meaning  to  the  actions  

undertaken  and  finding  a  new  perspective  for  the  future”    

Roberto  Colaninno  

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