The Museo Piaggio – Viale Rinaldo Piaggio, 7, 56025 Pontedera – 20 dicembre 2014 – 14 febbraio 2015
The Vespa has evolved from a single model motor scooter manufactured in 1946 by Piaggio & Co. S.p.A. of Pontedera, Italy—to a full line of scooters and one of seven companies today owned by Piaggio.
Post World War II Italy, in light of its agreement to cessation of war activities with the Allies, had its aircraft industry severely restricted in both capability and capacity.
Piaggio emerged from the conflict with its Pontedera fighter plane plant demolished by bombing. Italy’s crippled economy and the disastrous state of the roads did not assist in the re-development of the automobile markets. Enrico Piaggio, the son of Piaggio’s founder Rinaldo Piaggio, decided to leave the aeronautical field in order to address Italy’s urgent need for a modern and affordable mode of transportation for the masses.
Concept
The inspiration for the design of the Vespa dates back to Pre-World War II Cushman scooters made in Nebraska, USA. These olive green scooters were in Italy in large numbers, ordered originally by Washington as field transport for the Paratroops and Marines. The US military had used them to get around Nazi defense tactics of destroying roads and bridges in the Dolomites (a section of the Alps) and the Austrian border areas.
Design
In 1944, Piaggio engineers Renzo Spolti and Vittorio Casini designed a motorcycle with bodywork fully enclosing the drivetrain and forming a tall splash guard at the front. In addition to the bodywork, the design included handlebar-mounted controls, forced air cooling, wheels of small diameter, and a tall central section that had to be straddled.
Enrico Piaggio was displeased with the design, especially the tall central section. He contracted aeronautical engineer Corradino D’Ascanio, to redesign the scooter. D’Ascanio, who had earlier been consulted by Ferdinando Innocenti about scooter design and manufacture, made it immediately known that he hated motorcycles, believing them to be bulky, dirty, and unreliable.
D’Ascanio’s MP6 prototype had its engine mounted beside the rear wheel. The wheel was driven directly from the transmission, eliminating the drive chain and the oil and dirt associated with it. The prototype had a unit spar frame with stress-bearing steel outer panels. These changes allowed the MP6 to have a step-through design without a centre section like that of the MP5 Paperino. The MP6 design also included a single sided front suspension, interchangeable front and rear wheels mounted on stub axles, and a spare wheel. Other features of the MP6 were similar to those on the Paperino, including the handlebar-mounted controls and the enclosed bodywork with the tall front splash guard.
Upon seeing the MP6 for the first time, Enrico Piaggio exclaimed: “Sembra una vespa!” (“It resembles a wasp!”) Piaggio effectively named his new scooter on the spot. Vespa is both Latin and Italian for wasp—derived from the vehicle’s body shape: The thicker rear part connected to the front part by a narrow waist, and the steering rod resembled antennae.
La figurazione domina sull’ astratto come sempre in Mario; ora le vespe stanno al posto delle rose e diventano oggetto di meditazione .
Io non amo gli oggetti meccanici ma Mario sicuramente ama la vespa che ricorre negli anni come modello pittorico.
Prima quale realtà e reperto quasi archeologico: patinata e foggy, poi seriata in progressione distribuita lungo un continuum.
Una nel blu evoca una caduta, uno slancio nel vuoto : negli usa Telma e Luise si lanciano nella scelta di liberazione con una grande auto decappottabile, un veicolo statunitense paradigmatico per luogo di generazione; in Italia credo che un analogo percorso di fuga dalle costrizioni avrebbe come supporto non un auto ma per l ‘appunto una vespa.
Ecco su supporto metallico mi sembra che Mario abbia dipinto questo volo e tutte le altre vespe, in un percorso degradante per intensità di illuminazione, pare evochino un tale esito : quello che io ritengo un grande fraintendimento, secondo il quale si identifica, dal futurismo in poi, la libertà con la velocità e il mezzo meccanico.
Credo piuttosto che dovremmo sottrarci ad ogni sorta di macchina ma qui la vespa per Mario si rivela in realtà come un gioco, come lo è stata per molti e così lo giustifico o almeno lo capisco, un giocattolo con cui sperando di sottrarsi alla realtà ci si entrava e ci si stava in pieno, nelle regole con una trasgressione prevedibile e prevista, anche quella letale; ma Mario è un pittore e di queste vespe si potrebbe dire ceci n’est pas un ‘vespa’ ..
giuliano nannipieri – source