Etienne Psaila
In the rubble of postwar Italy, something extraordinary happened. Amid bombed-out cities and economic collapse, two unlikely machines emerged to redefine freedom, beauty, and everyday life: the Vespa and the Lambretta. These sleek, affordable scooters were more than just a means of transport-they were symbols of modernity, aspiration, and Italian ingenuity.Italian Café Culture & Scooters tells the compelling, factual story of how a devastated nation found movement again-on two wheels. From the design genius of Corradino D’Ascanio to the gritty streets of Milan where Lambretta was born, this book explores how scooters reshaped cityscapes, social norms, and global perceptions of Italian style. It charts the golden years of the 1950s and ’60s, the rise of youth and women riders, their cinematic fame, their international export boom, and eventual decline in the face of mass car ownership.Yet the scooter never died. Through restoration culture, electric rebirth, and the deep emotional bonds they forged, Vespas and Lambrettas remain icons of Italy’s industrial past and aesthetic soul. Written in vivid, accessible narrative form and grounded in fact, this book is a sweeping tribute to the machines that helped rebuild a nation-and rolled it into a new era.
