15,000 Vespas Converge on Rome for Scooter's 80th Anniversary

More than 10,000 Vespas circled the Colosseum and Roman Forum on Saturday to mark the scooter's 80th anniversary. Enthusiasts arrived from across continental Europe, northern England, San Francisco, Australia's Gold Coast, the Philippines, and other locations.

The gathering began Thursday as groups in matching T-shirts rode through city streets. A parking area outside the Stadium of the Marbles filled with rows of scooters spanning eight decades of production.

Piaggio developed the Vespa after its Pontedera aircraft factory was destroyed in World War II bombings. The company shifted to scooter production, targeting women riders who could operate the machines while wearing long skirts. "The shape, the elegance.

This very charming attitude of Vespa is much more of a lady than a man," said Davide Zanolini, Piaggio's executive vice president of marketing. The scooter's curved lines and ease of use helped popularize it across Italy. A 1950 AP report noted that Vespas had become so common their exhaust noise made downtown Rome resemble the Indianapolis 500.

In the United States the scooters remain a niche product, with strongest sales in Florida and California. Burke Sandman, whose family owns a 108-year-old car dealership in Indiana, told the AP he has sold about 1,000 Vespas across the country after first buying one for its sidecar two decades ago.

"No one ever says anything bad about a Vespa. You know, it's crazy," Sandman said inside the Vespa Village. " A photo exhibit displayed historic images, including explorer Soren Nielsen reaching the Arctic Circle on a Vespa in 1963. Pristine examples from Piaggio's collection were also on view.

"The passion for Vespa is for the Italian style, freedom, the '60s," said Natalie Dunand, a French retiree celebrating her 61st birthday at the event.