Italy’s Brainchild: The Scooter

Americans have their trucks; the British claim double decker busses, but more than any other country, Italy is know for its motor scooters. From Italian advertising to movies to newspaper photos of Milan and Rome, the motor scooter is a striking fixture of the Italian lifestyle. Its inception begins in the dubious year of 1922 and the relocation of a single innovative businessman. Leaving his home and warehouse in Pescia, Ferdinando Innocenti moved to a growing industrial Rome and began a steel tubing plant.

The risk paid out and the ingenious entrepreneur became well known for his products. In the following years, the firm’s profits grew as the result of the government’s and Catholic Church’s need for renovations and building equipment intensified. The demand for Innocenti products exploded and by 1932, the company required facility expansion. Within a year, Innocenti addressed the strain on the company’s capabilities and moved himself as well as much of the business away from Rome to new factories in the Milano-Lambrate region next to the Lambro River. The resource investment proved fruitful and by 1935, official headquarters for “Fratelli Innocenti” were established in Milan and capital bled into the north. Ready to accommodate all business that came his way, the industrial giant continued the physical growth of the company by diverting the Lambro River to make space for the complex additions.

Then came World War II, and the factory’s rubble state threatened Fratelli Innocenti’s survival. Innocenti recognized the shabby state of both his country and company; he saw the roads blown up, cities levelled, and an isolated people with little to no means of transportation. Strangely, it was a memory of the war that helped him solve all the problems that the disaster caused. Innocenti recalled the motorbikes that floated down with the invading British parachuters and with that vision, he saw a chance for revival.

Innocenti bet that similar vehicles could help Italians and simultaneously reignite his business. With the help of Colonel D’Ascanio, Ferdinando sought to rebuild and reestablish both Fratelli Innocenti and his beloved homeland with a cost effective motor bike. However, the charismatic leader wasn’t able to sway the creative attitudes of his partner and was abandoned and betrayed. The colonel stole away with the plans and revealed the innovation to the main competitor, Piaggio. A line had been drawn and crossed; determined to keep his company afloat, Innocenti sought the help of another engineer, Colonel Torre. Together they developed the Lambretta, named after the Milanese river Lambro, to challenge the Colonel D’Ascanio-Piaggio team Vespa creation. Unfortunately for Innocenti, D’Ascanio’s waspy Vespa buzzed to the front of the competition by introducing the scooter before Innocenti could fully restructure his company. Still, within one year, the development team finished testing the prototype and by 1947, Lambrettas rolled out of Lambrate and into the hands of people around the world. From his plant near Milan, Innocenti poured out two-passenger Lambretta motor scooters off the line for any one looking for a zippy but cheap (then $240, 100 miles per gallon) transportation. By the 1950s, Vespa and Lambretta were at full-scale war. Vying for top scooter, the two founded touring and fan clubs and battled for movie spots. Vespa won the American Roman Holiday flick while Lambretta transported Jimmy from the cult classic Quadrophenia on a Lambretta Li 125 Series 3. Lambrettas became so fashionable with the Mod crowd, popular 1960s British youth culture, that it was squeezing out the British automobile competition.

Ironically, the threatened opposition became Fratelli Innocenti’s ultimate demise. Before he died in 1966, Innocenti helped the British automobile manufacturer, BMC, design the MINI that became trendy towards the end of the decade. Misguidedly, a contract was struck with the British company that gave BMC first dibs to buy Fratelli Innocenti if it was ever put on sale. Within a few years, BMC bought the Italian brainchild and, after prolonged low scooter sales and strikes, the Lambrate factory closed its doors in 1972. Gradually, the Western world began to forget the scooter’s heritage and the regional waters reclaimed the Milanese area that once belonged to Fratelli Innocenti.

The Lambro River witnessed Lambretta industry grow, enlarge and then die on its shores. Still, enthusiasts are trying to breathe new life into the Lambretta name. The Lambretta festival this last June 10 may have memorialized the unfortunate imprisonment of 12 Lambretta factory workers captured by the SS in 1944, but it was also a time for celebration. In addition to the product’s 60^th anniversary, park development plans have officially declared the inclusion of former Innocenti factory lands in the effort to add more “green” to Milan’s areas. A plan to surround the city with soundproofing, parkland, and trees includes both Lambro Park and sections of the soon to be reconverted Fratelli Innocenti factory grounds. Innocenti’s company may have been lost at sea but his work drives on.

JoAnna J. Guzon