Vespa is as much a part of Italian culture as pasta, family, art, and esteemed architecture.

Over the years, Vespas have become iconic worldwide, featuring in films like Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn.

It even made an appearance in Tony Stark: Iron Man #4 by Dan Slott, Valerio Schiti, Edgar Delgado and Joe Caramagna.

The Vespa was born in 1946, after the Second World War, when Enrico Piaggio decided to make a vehicle that was simple, cheap, and for everyone.

And in Italy, especially in Vespa’s home town of Genoa, it can feel like everyone has a Vespa.

Unfortunately for owners of vintage Vespas in Genoa, things aren’t looking good, reports Ride Apart.

If you own a Vespa or other scooter that was made prior to 1999 and you regularly ride in Genoa, Italy, I’m afraid we have some bad news for you. Genoa mayor Marco Bucci announced on September 4, 2019, that Vespa’s iconic home city is about to ban certain older scooters from some parts of the city center.

The law has not yet been approved by the municipal council, but that’s the final hurdle it needs to cross before it’s official. Under this new law, two-stroke Vespas produced before 1999—and that are not compliant with Euro 3 emissions standards, at a minimum, according to Motociclismo—will be banned from certain areas of the city.

As I’m sure you can imagine, Vespa lovers have not welcomed this news with good grace. A law like this is the scooter equivalent of putting cream in your carbonara, or breaking the pasta before cooking it.

“Let me be clear, many other Italian cities including the capital have banned the use of the most polluting two-wheeled vehicles, but it is only in Genoa that a normal municipal ordinance has taken the character of an anti-Vespa crusade,” Bucci said, according to Il Globo.

“Here, the number of vintage Piaggio scooters that circulate is enormous and, in fact, there are no two-stroke old scooters apart from Vespas. No one says there should be no bikes, but they must be four-stroke.”

This isn’t the first time that the city has tried to ban older Vespas and other scooters from the streets.

In 2016, the city tried to pass a similar local law, but was unsuccessful since it was also Vespa’s 70th anniversary, and Genoese Vespa enthusiasts buzzed loudly and angrily in protest. According to the Local, protesters at that time also started the Twitter hashtag #lamiavespanonsitocca, which translates to “Don’t touch my Vespa.”

Also in 2016, the city’s three Vespa clubs made the argument that pre-1999 Vespas only made up around 3,000 of the total scooters in Genoa, and that cruise ships docked in nearby Porto Antico output far more air pollution than those older two-stroke scooters.

If the law is passed, it will go into effect from October this year.

While retiring your vintage beauty will be hard, it is a great excuse to upgrade and invest in a newer model. You could even eliminate carbon emissions completely with an electric Vespa Elettrica.

Right now, South Africans can score a sweet deal on a new Vespa by doing one of two things:

Drop Seth a line at editor@2oceansvibe.com, make the subject line “Hook me up with a Vespa discount”, and he’ll do what he does best.

Vespa SA is also hosting a clearance sale, while stocks last, on all of their 2018 scooters.

Peruse the range online and contact your local branch to find out more:

Seriously, there’s no reason not to up your transport game.

You’ll save on petrol, save the environment, and ride in style.

[source:rideapart]