A Historical Passion
More than 180 Models on display in the Scooter Historical Museum
A long-standing passion
On display, a unique collection of great historical value:
over 180 specimens from around the world representing the scooter production of the most industrialized nations.
How does a passion arise?
Every collector asks themselves: some for a childhood memory, some for an unfulfilled desire, some to fill their free time.
There are endless motivations that lead a person to start a collection of any kind: from butterflies to bottle caps, from tractors to stamps, from pipes to scooters; and here we arrive at the question: why specifically the Lambretta and scooters?
In my case, it’s very difficult to respond; my dad Gianni liked motorcycles but he didn’t get along with his Galletto from Moto Guzzi, my brother Gaetano had some beautiful motorcycles but never a scooter, and I, as a boy, considered the scooter a by-product of the motorcycle, a vehicle not to be taken seriously.
But then, at the age of 15, something inexplicable happens: the Lambretta forcefully enters my DNA conditioning my first 47 years…
The early years...
Thanks to the help of my brother Gaetano (seven years older than me), I start the search to buy one, and after great difficulties, I find a 125 LD ’53 in Bormio, from an elderly midwife; it is the beginning of a great passion and an important project: to create a complete collection of Lambretta in all its variants.
My brother and I, along with a few close friends, make up the ‘Friends of the Old Scooter’ Club, with the aim of promoting this important means of transportation and organizing scooter-themed gatherings.
In the company of my future wife Orietta and the members of the Club, I travel thousands of kilometers in Italy and abroad on my Lambretta, always with great enthusiasm and passion.
The Collection takes form
In the meantime, the collection continues to grow, the first Lambretta 125 B in 1978 and then the first 125A with a sidecar paid for the beautiful sum of 500,000 lire at the end of 1978 (a true madness lovingly supported by dad Gianni and mom Laura).
The activities of the newly established Club, unique in its kind in Italy, are beginning to bear fruit as it manages to gather a remarkable 32 members!
The Birth of the Scooter and Lambretta Restoration Workshop
At the same time, like a dream come true, at the age of 19 I opened my scooter and Lambretta restoration workshop; it is the first in Italy and will remain so for many years.
Initially, the restoration work on Scooters and Lambrettas is not very much and, to survive, I reluctantly have to accept also less prestigious repairs like mopeds and lawnmowers!
Then, within a few years, as vintage scooterism becomes an important reality, I manage to focus my work solely on the field of historic scooterism.
The collection continues...
Meanwhile, alongside the purchase of specimens for the collection, I am dedicated to the research of all the historical paper heritage related to the scooter: catalogs, brochures, drawings, photographs, and films.
Among the most important finds, the acquisition of the Innocenti historical archive certainly deserves a place.
Everything starts with the information from a friend who had seen some scooters inside an abandoned building near Innocenti.
After the necessary investigations, I find out that the building belongs to the Innocenti family, and I therefore try to contact them.
After countless attempts, the doors finally open and I can finally see the treasure: various Lambrettas, prototypes, unique models, construction drawings, films, and everything a collector can imagine… abandoned for years with that layer of dust that enthusiasts love so much.
Thanks to the Lambretta Club, I am getting to know more directly the Lambrettists scattered around the world: from Australia to Argentina, from England to Japan; these connections allow me to have more opportunities in the search for particular and rare scooters like the Honda Juno K, the Salsbury Motor Glide, or the Morin Scootavia.
The turning point in 2001
In 2001, finally the turning point! The Municipality of Rodano, represented by the Mayor Mr. Marazzi and the cultural assessor Mrs. Ponissi, promotes the creation of a permanent scooter museum by providing me with a large room in a municipal building.
The success is immediate and hundreds of people are visiting this important themed exhibition.
Galvanized by the benevolent welcome of the public, the Mayor and Councilors of the Municipality of Rodano decided to build a specific building to hold the entire collection with ample spaces: with a surface area of over 400 square meters, the new headquarters was officially inaugurated on January 21, 2006, in the presence of all local authorities and the president of the ASI Motor Vehicles Commission, Mauro Pasotti.
The Birth of the Museum
But the collection continues to grow and the spaces, which seemed more than sufficient, become too small for the over 180 scooters to be exhibited.
And so I acquire a large warehouse where I can place the entire collection and also my company CasaLambretta with the spare parts warehouse and the workshop.
In this new location of about 800 square meters the museum is enriched with a renewed arrangement of the scooters with more space for visitors.
Currently the Scooter&Lambretta Museum is considered the largest and most complete scooter museum in the world.
Six rooms are dedicated to the history of the scooter while the “Arena” hall is exclusively reserved for the Lambretta, queen of the museum.
In a special room some prototypes and racing Lambrettas are exhibited, unique pieces of great historical value.
I also dedicated a small room to a collection of bicycles from the 1800s ranging from the first Draisina of 1820 to the more recent Columbia with a shaft of 1899; my second passion, after Lambretta and Scooter.
The Lambretta sector also includes the Innocenti historical archive which consists of: over 5000 photographic negatives, 45 advertising films, the entire series of original construction drawings, the catalogues and brochures of the time.
All the paper material, due to its delicate nature, is visible only upon request of the visitor, while most of the films have already been transferred to CD for easier consultation.
A special thanks to the Innocenti family, who has always supported me with affection, and to my friend Howard, sadly recently deceased, who has always contributed to the growth of the museum.
Vittorio Tessera