Latisana Flowers Festival

On sunday the 12th of April our girlfriends went to Venice in the morning, by train, to enjoy a sunny day. Few minutes later their departure, Paolo started a whatsapp chat called “Ci diamo del gas?” (Let’s give gas). At 11 am, Paolo, Cica (with his “new” PX125!) and me (on the old VNB) met at Sandrons’ in Pertegada. Sun was shining on our sunglasses and on our Vespas and, after a beer, we went to Latisana. Once a year, in this small town a Flowers Festival takes place, quite nice, not so big. In the biggest square of Latisana (piazza Indipendenza), you can find pedlars selling flowers and other products from this area. Some wine-producers sell their wines, offering also something to eat, mainly fish-based dishes. Gatto and Michele reached us after a while, we already were at the Dino’s gazebo, drinking Prosecco Albafiorita (http://www.albafiorita.com/vino-friulano/) and having raw smooth clams. After some bottles of wine, we drove our Vespas ut to the “Agricolo” (http://goo.gl/8mxKSQ), an agritourism-restaurant 10 km far to have lunch with mixed-grill and homemade red wine. We decided hence to go on, reaching Marano Lagunare, where we met Raffale (ET3 125), Steve (TS 125), Negus (ET3 125) and other friends from Codroipo with their Vespas… so, after almost an hour and half of sunbath, some further proseccos and an espresso, we went back to Latisana. Raffele joined us. We met again at Dino’s place, waiting for the girlfriends that were arriving by train. The day ended with a good pasta with fish sauce and then… it was time to go to bed!

Some pics of the Festival: http://goo.gl/ZlwbpU In the picture, form the left: Paolo and Gatto with our Vespas in Latisana, the Albafiorita’s prosecco, our Vespas in Marano Lagunare

Goodbye Severina!

Spring 2012: the warmest summer of the last 10 years was arriving. At that time I had only my 50R and I wanted a 125cc vespa, mainly because I needed to host also a passenger (=my girlfriend Alessia). I needed also a quite “common” vespa, I was living in Trieste and, having no box, I had to leave it between many scooters in a public parking area. I did not want to buy a old, classic-vespa and hence leave it in a public place, under the rain, with the strong wind of Trieste and… under the eyes of thieves. I started to look for a PX, but actually it is quite difficult to find a good vespaPX, in good conditions, for less than 1800 EUR… Then I bought a FL2, almost a PK, one of the last vespa with gears that Piaggio created. My friends at the beginning said I bought a crap, but then they said I did well in buying it, being ready to drive (vespas sometime need to be fixed when you buy them…). My friends called it “Severina”, because in a comic movie of the ‘80s a character called “Severino” had a similar vespa. Have a look at http://goo.gl/T0CzgM . During these years, the Severina has been always very reliable, I drove it for thousand of km with no need of particular maintenance, even going to the Vespa World Days in Mantova. Now I am leaving in a smaller town and… I have a box and my old VNB (my grandpa bought it in the ‘60s) wants to be driven again. So, I decided to sell my Severina to one of my best friend, Simone. He lives in Lignano and I am sure he will take care of it. Well, I hope this was the right choice, otherwise I will say to Simone to sell it back :) and... I hope to have the same sunny days of 2012 and hence to drive for many km also the old VNB!

In the picture, from the left: Gatto (Vespa Sprint), Patric (Vespa TS), and me (on Serverina) @Vespa World Days, June 2014, Mantova

The Shellfish Village Feast @Lignano Sabbiadoro (aka “La festa delle cape”)

Sunny days, even if quite windy. The beginning of March 2015 in our land, and almost in the whole Italy, can be summarized in these few words. Since the 2012, during the local Village Fest, some guys of the Lignano Sabbiadoro tourist board organize a Vespa meeting… even if I think just one of them has a Vespa :) So, at 10 am of last Sunday Paolo (on his 50 special, very special), Gatto (on his Sprint 150cc) and me (on my dusty FL2-Severina) met at the Central bar of Pertegada, just for a coffee before going to Lignano. Close to the beach, hundreds of Vespa were already there… a lot of people were excited to take part of the first meeting of the season. We had a quite fast breakfast and hence we started the “touristic” tour, driving close the Tagliamento river (nice view!) up to the Lorenzonetto II’s winery in Pertegada. During this stop we spend such a good time, drinking a good prosecco and having San Daniele’s ham or tasty sardines. The vespa “convoy” continued the tour after ca. one hour while… we and some friends of our club decided to drink further glasses of prosecco… Being faster, we reached the other participants directly at the restaurant, again in Lignano, close to the beach. The lunch was not so great but, again, friends, sun, prosecco and some beers were the right ingredients to enjoy this meeting. Before going back home, I met my friend Simone, the future owner of my Severina: being my old VNB ready to be again on the road, I will sell my FL2. Our meeting ended at Lele’s Chiosco bar, the most popular meeting place of Lignano, especially for bikers and Vespa lovers!

In the picture, on the left: the stop at Lorenzonetto’s winery. On the right: the arrival at the Bar Sabbiadoro

Vespa Club Insetti Scoppiettanti (Codroipo, Udine)

One of the first things to do when you have a Vespa is to take part of a Vespa Club (VC). The VC allows you to meet vespisti that have the same passion and to join them to Vespa raduni (I have still to understand the best translation of “raduno”... rally? Meeting? Mah!). Every meeting is a great experience, a good way to drive through new places, to eat typical food and to drink some liters of aperitiv/wine/beer. I think I joined the “Insetti Scoppiettanti” Club in the 2006, mainly because my friends Paolo and Gatto had already taken part. The VC was born in the 2000, under the guide of the president Franco Roiatti. In the 2002 they organized their 1st Vespa meeting in Codroipo (Udine), that became year after year an appointment at the end of July for hundreds of vespisti. Since the 2004, the Club put in contact all the members that want to go to the annual World Vespa Meeting, aka “Vespa World Days”. I had the chance to join them last year, at the VWD in Mantova. We spent such a good time... despite the rain. Meeting after meeting, the VC cultivates friendships with other VCs. It is worth mentioning that, every year, some “Insects” drive to Ferrara to join the of local Vespa meeting and hence some vespisti from that town (200 km far) join the above mentioned meeting in Codroipo. A demonstration of the spirit of friendship born in the name of a common passion called Vespa. I can finally suggest to have a look to the website www.insettiscoppiettanti.it and hence their facebook page.

In the picture, on the left, a photo of the 2005 VC meeting, while some Vespa drive through "Villa Manin" (Codroipo, Udine, Italy). On the right, a couple of pics of the 2014 meeting in Codroipo. The images are taken from the Facebook profile of the VC Insetti Scoppiettanti.

My (vespa) origins: Vespa 50 R

Pertegada (North-East of Italy), Spring 2004. Massimin asked me if I wanted his Vespa, a blue “blu marine” 50R (1980). He bought a Vespa P200E and he did not want to see the little 50R parked in the garage. In Italy, classic 50 cc scooters have a limit of 45 km/h and they can not drive passenger: quite restrictive rules if you want to drive your Vespa outside your city and, perhaps, with your girlfriend on your back. Cica, Gatto, Michele and Paolo already had a Vespa and so I had a chance to join their little “club”. Paolo and Cica said they would fix the engine, to reach a good speed to join them to Vespa rallies. So, almost 10 years ago, I started to love the Vespa and all the surroundings (trips, meetings, new friends, …) and now I am starting this blog. Massimin drove this Vespa mainly in the ‘80s and in the ‘90s, the 50R allowed him to appear driving the more expensive Vespa 125 cc primavera. The Vespa 50R drove me up to late 2011, when I decided to leave it to my little cousins of Trieste. As Massimin did in 2004, I preferred to go on driving the other Vespa I had (a VNB from the ‘60s and a FL2 125 cc, 1995). I have also to start fixing a Vespa 50 Special (1980), that is waiting for me in the attic since ages… I spent such a good time on it, from celebration of the 2006 World Cup up to the hill of the Zoncolan mountain (1750 m), passing from Vespa meetings in the North-West of Italy to many parties in Lignano Sabbiadoro during the fabulous Italian summers.

In the picture, from the left: Me on Vespa 50R, Michele, Patric, Gatto, the Patric’s Vespa TS, Cica and Paolo, close to the Michele’s Vespa ET3 primavera. We were on the hill of Zoncolan mountain, summer 2011 (probably)