“VESPART”: THE EXHIBIT THAT PAYS TRIBUTE TO “QUEEN VESPA”. 70 WORKS BY FOUR ARTISTS: PAOLO AMICO, NICO LOPEZ BRUCHI, DAVID POMPILI, AND SKIM

The team of organisers with Michele Quirici, Mayor Matteo Franconi, and the artists cutting the ribbon. Photo courtesy of: Municipality of Pontedera Press Office.

15 March 2024 (G.T.) – Only she has the ability to inspire (cinema, fashion, art), and she’s been doing it for an amazing 78 years. Only she has the ability to reinvent herself without betraying herself, attracting generation after generation. Vespa is unique, we already knew that. Vespa is famous all over the world, and this is also well-known. The two-wheeled icon manages to stay ‘forever young’ (as the claim of the 2021 advertising campaign for her 75 years stated), continuing to astonish and avoiding the “déjà vu” effect. Yet more proof of this is the new “VespArt” exhibit going on right now at the PALP (historical palace) in Pontedera, Pisa province in Tuscany (through 21 April 2024, free entrance): a rich display of more than 70 works by four Italian artists: Paolo Amico, David Pompili, Nico Lopez Bruchi, and Skim. The new exhibit is the “heart” of the “Pontedera Art Exhibition”, directed by Alberto Bartalini, where other Vespa-themed works will be installed over the coming weeks in “spaces distributed throughout the city” through June 2024.

It is a tribute by the city of Pontedera, where Vespa was born in 1946 and where it has been manufactured non-stop ever since in the Pontedera plants which celebrate 100 years this year, combined with the 140-year anniversary of Piaggio (established in Genoa in 1884).

Source of images and info: www.facebook.com/PALPpontedera

The organisers explain: “It is an exhibit which combines Vespa and the works of established and ingenious artists. VespArt, from 15 March through 21 April at the Palp - and other works in spaces distributed throughout the city through June - includes pieces from highly prestigious collections and is a tribute to the queen Vespa. A symbol of Pontedera and absolute protagonist on the global stage, Vespa World Days 2024, hosted by the city from 18 to 21 April, will welcome thousands of visitors to the territory.”

nfo on VWDays 2024, Vespa World Club website: https://vespaworldclub.org

Photo courtesy of: Municipality of Pontedera Press Office.

A path that has already been launched, precisely with this exhibit, begins a precise countdown. The halls of the Palp host the works of Paolo Amico, David Pompili, Skim, and Nico Lopez Bruchi and, as the event approaches, the Art Exhibition path will create externally in locations spread throughout the city. An artistic strategy in the territory that will take place over the coming weeks, with other artists as well, for an ingenuity at the service of a memorable event, a pop invasion that will pass through the Palp and the city, a virtuosity that will celebrate a legend. In fact, one hundred summers have passed since Piaggio, born 140 years ago, ‘landed’ in Pontedera and 78 springs have passed from the moment the first Vespa exited the city plant to colour the world.

Photo courtesy of: Municipality of Pontedera Press Office.

And precisely colour, evolution, the contemporaneous, innovation, vitality, are the figures of this exhibit, with the direction of Alberto Bartalini, sponsored by the Tuscan Region and produced by the Municipality of Pontedera and the Pontedera Foundation for Culture, with the support of numerous organisations from the territory.”

"Just as Vespa, born out of the genius mind of Corradino D'Ascanio, has never stopped evolving and astonishing, so art, which is admired, causes reflection and is ahead of the times. The works of Paolo Amico, Nico Lopez Bruchi, David Pompili, and Skim are interwoven in the fabric of a city that has never stopped growing and which moves forward looking to the future with the eyes of the young," explained the Mayor of Pontedera Matteo Franconi. "With this exhibit, the Palp confirms its central role in the city culture and leads up to the Vespa World Days, an exceptional promotional event for the entire territory."

Some classic Vespas will enrich the art exhibition (private collection of the Vannini Bros., Selvatelle, Pistoia), with the “queen”: the first Vespa 98cc of 1946.