The Vespa scooter has been described in many quarters as one of the most fashionable two-wheeled vehicles ever made. Although it was created to be a low-cost mode of transportation, the Vespa has grown into a style statement of its own, and continues to influence fashion since its inception in 1946.
Ironically, Piaggio, the company credited with creating the Vespa, was initially a ship-outfitting business when it was founded in the late 1800s. A few decades later, it had expanded further into manufacturing aircraft and railway construction.
The company director Enrico Piaggio was inspired to venture into the motorcycle manufacturing business by the need to provide reliable and affordable transport within Italian cities. As a matter of fact, the Vespa scooter was instrumental in getting Italy's economy back on its feet after the Second World War.
Piaggio approached accomplished engineer Corradino D'Ascanio to come up with the bike's design. Although he hated motorbikes for being dirty, bulky and unreliable, D'Ascanio would go on to make a two-wheeler that did not feel like a motorcycle. The engine would be under the seat, to protect users from the oil and grease, and the gears would be next to the handlebars.
When Piaggio was shown the prototype for the first time, he said it looked like a wasp, "vespa" in Italian. In less than a year after the scooter went into production in 1946, Italians had a new verb, "vespare" which means to go to a place on a Vespa.
