Villa Vespa / Villa Lambretta, Italy

Villa Vespa is a classic abandoned Italian location; simple but also beautiful. Interestingly the location is in fact quite small, being some time of barn or storage rooms. The villa next door has been renovated and appears to be lived in, with a freshly mowed lawn and well-tended garden. The area in these photographs is dilapidated, and the ceiling is collapsing. The walls and ceiling feature beautiful frescos. In the room is a blue scooter, which is a rather strange thing to find in a frescoed room. This room is wonderfully photogenic, a mixture of grandeur and decay acting as a fascinating backdrop to the vintage scooter.

I was very late visiting this location, only finally photographing it during my Summer 2022 Italy Road Trip.

A Vagrant Vespa? A Lost Lambretta?

This location is most often called Villa Vespa, but is sometimes also known as Villa Lambretta. Obviously, this is a reference to the blue scooter which appears in this room as the main photographic subject. After a little digging online, it appears that both of these names are incorrect! The scooter does not appear to be a a Vespa or a Lambretta. In fact, the bike seems to be a 1960s MotoBi Picnic.

A forgotten 1960s MotoBi Picnic Scooter

MotoBi (originally, Moto B) were an Italian motorcycle company which existed between 1950 and 1984. Although the company produced many models, there were all based on a similar basic framework and set-up. This enabled the company to operate with a small workforce, and be agile in response to market trends and tastes.

The first Picnic scooter was produced in 1959. Early models were equipped with a 75cc 4-stroke engine, whereas later models featured a 98cc or 125cc 2-stroke engine. This delightful cornflower blue was a very popular colour, alongside a father complimentary shade of emerald green.