Abstract

The motor scooter, symbol of a certain postwar Italy, stimulated the country's first mass motorization. The result of a well-planned industrial design, the scooter was meant to fulfill two actual needs: the rationalization of industries after the war and the wish to produce a motor vehicle that would address the growing demand for individual mobility. This paper focuses on the difficult years the company underwent from the end of WWII to the birth of Lambretta and its market success. Thanks to a comprehensive documentary evidence, built upon American and Italian primary sources, it has been possible to discover that Innocenti's reconstruction was neither quick nor easy. The focal points of this process were the damages caused to Lambrate plants by Allied bombings, the charges against Fernando Inocenti for collaborating with Fascism, the company's subsequent compulsory administration, the prices paid for lack of experience in production engineering and, finally, the scooter's rise to market leadership.