CURATED BY GIACOMO BRETZEL, THE EXHIBITION CHRONICLES THE HISTORY AND GLOBAL CULTURAL IMPACT OF THE VESPA BRAND THROUGH NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN IMAGES AND UNIQUE MODELS
THE SHOW IS A HIGHLIGHT OF “VESPA ROMA 2026 – 80 YEARS OF AN ICON,” A FOUR-DAY FESTIVAL OF PUBLIC EVENTS AND CELEBRATIONS FROM JUNE 25 TO 28
Rome – June 22, 2026 – From June 25 to twenty-eight, the Vespa Village at Rome’s Foro Italico will host “80 Years of an Icon – The Exhibition,” celebrating a real Italian legend. The exhibition reimagines eight many years of world historical past, charting the evolution of favor, tradition, and society. This visible journey options imagery that goes far past the evolution of a motorcycle it highlights how Vespa grew to become a world image of Italian magnificence and innovation, taking part in a number one function in fashionable historical past.
Body by body, guests are taken on a journey by the numerous personas of the Vespa: a mode of transport and an instrument of freedom, a journey companion, and a mode assertion. It has been the hero of extraordinary adventures and an emblem of a life-style that continues to resonate throughout generations and cultures. From the streets of European cities to grand intercontinental rallies, film units, and journal covers, Vespa stands out as one of the crucial recognizable and influential symbols of up to date visible tradition.
Curator Giacomo Bretzel describes the imaginative and prescient behind the exhibition: “That is the story of an Italy that has traveled far on a Vespa. I immersed myself within the magic of a scooter that acts as a bridge between previous and current, evolving right into a timeless icon. With this exhibition, I needed to unveil a journey across the globe utilizing magnificent photos found within the Piaggio archives and different personal collections. I then shot a brand new collection that includes a bunch of younger individuals round Pisa, close to Pontedera. Towards backdrops of sun-drenched coastal roads and classical structure, the Vespa serves as a visible diary—balancing the spirit of exploration with the fantastic line between shared connection and independence.”
The exhibition brings collectively imagery from a few of the most prestigious Italian and worldwide archives, spanning the Piaggio Historic Archive in Pontedera, Intesa Sanpaolo’s Publifoto Archive, the ENI Historic Archive, the Pirelli Basis, and the Gala-Salvador Dalí Basis. Contributing establishments additionally embrace the CSAC (Heart for Research and Archive of Communication on the College of Parma), the Alinari Basis for Pictures, the Civic Photographic Archive of Milan, and the Nationwide Museum of Pictures in Milan-Cinisello Balsamo, alongside worldwide names corresponding to Asterias Productions-Studio Kameni, Magnin-A, Magnum Photographs, Gamma-Rapho, The Jean Pigozzi African Artwork Assortment, Polka Galerie, and Studio William Klein.
Enhancing this wealthy heritage is a curated number of fine-art images sourced from galleries and personal collections worldwide. Masterpieces by legendary photographers dialogue seamlessly with Bretzel’s personal up to date photographs, weaving a collective narrative that spans continents, visible mediums, and generations. This stellar lineup options works by famend photographers together with Paola Agosti, Bruno Barbey, Peter Beard, Dominique Berretty, Carlo Carlevaro, Mario Cattaneo, Walter Deutz, Robert Emmett Brilliant, Tam Fagiuoli, Derk Hudson, Ionesco, Marc Gantier, Michel Kameni, Seydou Keïta, Keystone-France, William Klein, Adama Koyaté, Luigi Leoni, Fosco Maraini, Heini Mayr, Gabriele Milani, Johnny Moncada, David McMurry, Alice Moitie, Domingo Nardulli, Toni Nicolini, Claude Nori, Federico Patellani, Pierluigi fotonotizie, Publifoto Milano, Publifoto Roma, Reporters Associés, David Seymour, Malick Sibidé, Studio Villani, Jean-Louis Swiners, Italo Zannier, and Paolo Zerbini.
Alongside the photographic works, a curated show of uncommon and classic fashions from the Piaggio Museum and prestigious personal collections anchors the exhibition. On present shall be Vespas that broke pace information, launched into legendary overland journeys, starred in cinematic historical past, and left an indelible mark on common tradition. Guests may have the prospect to admire particular editions and items of extraordinary historic worth, most notably the Spanish-made Vespa 150 S personalized and signed by Salvador Dalí. Following its Rome debut, “Vespa. 80 Years of an Icon – The Exhibition” will journey to the Piaggio Museum in Pontedera, the place it is going to be open to the general public from July 9 to November 7, 2026.
Giacomo Bretzel
Pushed by his core passions—portraiture, gastronomy, journey, bikes, and automobiles—Giacomo Bretzel is a photographer-poet with a unprecedented expertise for capturing transient moments, motion, and the shared threads of humanity throughout the globe. An everyday contributor to main worldwide publications, Bretzel finds his final expression in analog images, the place the uncooked magic of a single, unrepeatable second actually comes alive. (www.giacomobretzel.com).
The Piaggio Museum
Inaugurated in March 2000, the Piaggio Museum is housed within the former toolmaking workshop—one of many oldest and most atmospheric sections of the Pontedera industrial complicated, the place manufacturing first started within the early Nineteen Twenties. Established to protect and have fun the heritage of one among Italy’s oldest enterprises, the museum chronicles the historical past of Piaggio and its surrounding area. It charts a sweeping narrative of Italian financial transformation, cultural evolution, and industrial progress by its most iconic merchandise and the in depth documentation preserved in its Historic Archive. Totally renovated in 2018, with 26 years of exercise and greater than 1,025,000 guests, the Piaggio Museum now spans 5,000 sq. meters with over 350 items on show. It stands as Italy’s largest and most complete museum devoted to two-wheelers, showcasing distinctive fashions that inform the story not simply of the Piaggio Group, however of the mobility, social growth, and industrial spirit of Italy. (www.museopiaggio.it)
Fully renovated in 2018, with 26 years of operation and greater than 1,025,000 guests, the Piaggio Museum now covers 5,000 sq. meters and options greater than 350 displays.
UNVEILED IN ROME AT THE FORO ITALICO AS PART OF THE “80 YEARS OF AN ICON” EVENT, THE VESPA EDIZIONE OTTANTESIMO IS AVAILABLE TO ORDER FROM TODAY ON VESPA.COM
A COLLECTOR’S MODEL BASED ON THE VESPA GTS 310, PRODUCED IN A NUMBERED EDITION, LIMITED TO 1,946 UNITS
THE SPECIAL LIVERY, INSPIRED BY THE RAW STEEL OF THE BODY, IS THE PERFECT BLEND OF TRADITION AND MODERNITY
EIGHTY YEARS OF FREEDOM, LIGHT-HEARTEDNESS, STYLE AND ELEGANCE, ENCAPSULATED IN AN EXCLUSIVE EDITION THAT IS ALREADY IN HIGH DEMAND FROM COLLECTORS AND ENTHUSIASTS
Rome, 25 June 2026 – In Rome, in opposition to the inimitable and majestic backdrop of the Foro Italico, Vespa presents the Vespa Edizione Ottantesimo, on the opening day of the celebrations marking its eightieth anniversary.
The Vespa Edizione Ottantesimo embodies eighty years of highly effective tales and overwhelming ardour: tales of freedom and independence, of enthusiasm and of the enjoyment of being alive, tales that includes an Italian legend.
Rome, the Everlasting Metropolis, the place that greater than every other evokes the enduring imagery of La Dolce Vita, was the one alternative for the baptism of such a novel creation. This particular mannequin is uncommon from the outset: as a tribute to the yr the Vespa was created, every version produced shall be numbered, and restricted to simply 1,946 items in complete.
The Vespa Edizione Ottantesimo revives, reinterprets and pays homage to the Vespa’s symbolic spine, the distinctive characteristic which actually represents this car in its purest, most unmistakable type: the load-bearing physique with its timeless design, constructed completely and completely from metal.
Certainly, even the distinctive livery of the Vespa Edizione Ottantesimo is impressed by the uncooked metal of the bodywork. Pure steel: tough, stable, indestructible, genuine.
However Vespa can be innovation, expertise and excellence, consideration to element and an exacting deal with even the tiniest parts. Right here, the metal end meets the vibrancy of color, mixing with the refined finishes to create a magical fusion of custom and modernity.
A particular shade of inexperienced, which harks again to Vespa’s early single-colour fashions, is featured on the saddle and wheel rims. With a sporty single-seater look, the rear seat is roofed by a detachable arduous cowl in the identical color because the physique, a nod to the everyday fairings of competitors Vespas. Nonetheless, the saddle is in reality type-approved for 2 riders and encompasses a vast, comfy seat with horizontal heat-sealed seams and tone-on-tone stitching across the contours.
The wheel rims boast a design that reinterprets the closed, pressed sheet-metal construction of the model fitted to the legendary Vespa 98 from 1946, and are enhanced by a channel with a diamond-cut end.
A particular three-dimensional graphic depicting the quantity 80 stands out on the perimeters, in the identical inexperienced. Its contours not solely characteristic the hexagonal brand, the widespread thread that ties this extraordinary anniversary collectively, but additionally inevitably recall to mind the form of a bolt, thus highlighting the handbook craftsmanship and artisan-quality workmanship which have at all times characterised Vespa autos.
The set-up of this mannequin is accomplished by a numbered commemorative plaque, positioned within the under-seat compartment.
A particular devoted helmet can be offered, which matches the Vespa completely. The highest of the helmet echoes the textured gray of the bodywork, with a matte end, and is complemented by inexperienced detailing. The quantity 80 stands out on the again, in the identical design that seems on the perimeters of the Vespa Edizione Ottantesimo.
The Vespa Edizione Ottantesimo shares the identical technical base because the fashions within the Vespa GTS 310 vary, and is due to this fact powered by the fashionable 310 hpe single-cylinder engine with 25 hp, probably the most highly effective ever used on a Vespa.
The great vary of technological options offered as customary contains full LED lighting and a 5-inch color TFT show, which permits the rider to profit from the VESPA MIA connectivity system, which additionally comes as customary.
It additionally encompasses a keyless system, which permits the engine to be began with out having to insert a standard key, in addition to courtesy lights within the rear of the defend and under-seat compartment. In the meantime, when it comes to security, digital traction management (ASR) and anti-lock braking system (ABS) are additionally offered as customary.
The Vespa Edizione Ottantesimo may be enhanced with fashionable equipment, such because the prime field – with a capability of 36 litres – in the identical color because the bodywork, which may be fitted with a padded backrest in the identical color and materials because the saddle.
The in depth vary of unique Vespa equipment is of course obtainable to lend an much more personalised contact to the car or to reinforce its performance: these embrace entrance and rear baggage racks, facet bars, fairings and windscreens, and an digital anti-theft system.
The Vespa Edizione Ottantesimo is on the market to order as of at present on-line: go to edizioneottantesimo.vespa.com.
Every Vespa Edizione Ottantesimo comes with a novel e book
The Vespa Edizione Ottantesimo is a tribute to Italian magnificence and magnificence, of which Vespa is among the world’s main ambassadors. For that reason, every Vespa bought comes with a good looking espresso desk e book by Assouline, a luxurious model identified internationally for its gorgeous volumes devoted to the tradition of favor and magnificence.
The e book celebrates the legend of the Vespa by its most iconic photos, alongside uncommon materials unearthed from the Piaggio archives, tracing its evolution and its fixed affect on cultures and existence
