It’s winter in Milan, no question about it. Grey skies and a chilled drizzle characterize this non-jolly time of year, sending residence scurrying for the warmth of a nearby café or bar.
Nevertheless, this winter there was one more reason to celebrate under the weary skies of the northern Italian capitol.
A monument commemorating the importance of the Lambretta scooter was unveiled in Milan, drawing attention from all corners of the world, the same corners in which Lambretta has played an influential role throughout the second half of the 20th century.
At first you may not recognize the name, Lambretta, perhaps because it has been overshadowed by its younger brother of sorts, the Vespa. After World War II, Ferdinando Innocenti, founder of Lambretta, saw a need for cheap, private transport around the city of Milan.
As a precursor to Italy’s economic boom, Italians were not yet able to afford personal cars, instead Innocenti wanted a scooter for every family with the capacity to carry a passenger, be drivable by both genders and unlike a motorcycle, keep the riders relatively clean: in other words, city transportation.
He hired, Corradino D’Ascanio, an aeronautical engineer, to design the first scooter for Lambretta, but D’Ascanio left the company over creative differences with owner Innocenti, taking with him his design to competitor Enrico Piaggio, producer of the Vespa. The first Lambretta (named after the Lambro river in Milan) became available for purchase in 1947, a full year after the Vespa’s debut.
Despite the early defeat to Vespa, Lambretta quickly started being manufactured under license in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, India and Spain. In fact, India, finding itself in a similar position of needing affordable, private transit, purchased the factory in Milan and the rights to the Lambretta name in 1972.
Nowadays you can still find motor scooters bearing the Lambretta name, but they are manufactured outside of Bella Italia, and are owned by Scooters India Ltd (Ltd). The shift in ownership has only created a greater demand for the original Italian Lambretta, which is coveted worldwide by the many members of Lambretta scooter clubs.
So this holiday season, as we ask our respective gift-givers for all things new, let us not forget the old innovators who started it all, the Innocenti of the world.
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