Mod Museum

Hey, Brad here.

On our road trip to Italy, we found ourselves (okay, it was my idea) wanting to visit a famous Italian museum. As we had just picked up our friends in Florence, they probably had already taken in the Galleria degli Uffizi, famous I believe for its collection of Renaissance paintings and sculpture. How about the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli? Too far away... The Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, in Rome? Modern art is awesome, but driving in Rome... Maybe next time.

HOWEVER, halfway between Florence and Siena, the town of Pontedera offers up the Museo Piaggio! Now we're talking! The home of Cassie's (and literally millions of others) Vespa scooter.

...and what did we see? Well, without boring you too much about its history, I will just say that the museum was full of significant, and bizarre, Vespas.

And the museum is free!

The SS90. One of the rarer Vespas around.

What every Vespa owner needs: a rocket launcher.

Here is the original prototype scooter, which was never put into production...because it didn't work very well. But it looks pretty cool.

Cassie checking out the extra large frame Vespa.

If "big" is not your thing, then how about long?

The Carrera marble seat, however, may not be so comfy, but it does match the tail light.

An original Ape (pronounced ah-pay), which are still being made in modern versions. It seems every farmer, plumber, plasterer and electrician has one.

Brad with the long distance record holders....around the world, Alaska to Chile, etc. even found a Vancouver sticker on one of them.

And finally, since the designer of the Vespa was also the inventor of the modern helicopter... it seems so right!