The collaboration was born to celebrate Vespa’s engineering and stylistic avant-garde, which over the years has become, with 19 million units produced, a cultural phenomenon and excellence of Made in Italy. Since its birth, 1946, the plant that produces it is always that of Piaggio di Pontedera, where the models (including the new electric one) are assembled from the first to the last piece, tested and then sent to most of the world. .
The birth of a myth and the Lego homage
Legend has it that Enrico Piaggio, observing the sinuous shapes of the first scooter prototype, the MP6 signed by Corradino d’Ascanio, and listening to the hum of the 98cc engine, exclaimed “It looks like a vespa!”, And that from there the myth was born . Since then, Vespa has become much more than a two-wheeled means of transport, but a real status symbol, synonymous with elegance, originality and “Italianness”. On 23 April 1946 Piaggio & C. Spa filed the patent and started the production of the first 98 cc., Which came out of the Pontedera factory in 2,000 units and in two versions: the “normal”, on sale for 55,000 lire, and the ” luxury ”, sold for 61,000 lire.
Piaggio celebrated its legend in 2021, on the occasion of its 75th anniversary, and a tail of the celebrations is also the project born with Lego: just over 1,100 bricks to recreate the original Vespa recalling the atmosphere of the 60s thanks to the blue color sky (unusual in the Lego world), the two-tone wheels, the basket on the back, the handlebar with steering wheel and the removable engine hood. Florian Muller, senior designer of the Lego group, perfected the set, on sale for 99.99 euros, who took 6 months to develop the product down to the smallest detail to make fans of both brands happy.
The work of the artist Riccardo Zangelmi
On the occasion of the presentation of the set, Piaggio and Lego also unveiled a real work of art: the original scale version of the Vespa entirely built with Lego bricks, signed by the artist Riccardo Zangelmi, one of the few Lego Certified Professionals in the world , unique in Italy.
Zangelmi and his team of 4 collaborators took 320 hours of work and 110,000 bricks of 11 different colors to create the Lego Vespa, a commitment doubled to create two models. One will remain at the Piaggio Museum in Pontedera, touring Italy on the occasion of events and exhibitions, the other will arrive on the streets of Milan during the Fashion Week, and from 25 February to 3 March will be exhibited in the Lego pop-up store in via Montenapoleone.
At the moment, however, the release of a Lego-branded Vespa model is not planned: “It takes time, and we carefully select collaborations because we don’t want to inflate the Vespa. It took us two years to develop this project – said Davide Zanolini. marketing chief of the Piaggio group – However, it is not entirely excluded. Meanwhile, the electric Vespa developed in collaboration with the Red Foundation will arrive in May, launched to raise awareness on the theme of pandemics and the environment, and I do not exclude that Eicma will come up with something new one”.
