Italy aims to protect gas-powered Vespa as ‘cultural heritage’

Rome: Italy is seeking to bypass European Union emissions regulations by having the gas-powered Vespa scooter designated as a “national cultural heritage” symbol.

If granted, the status would mean the two-wheeler is spared sales restrictions due to its excessive exhaust emissions, the Italian newspapers Corriere della Sera and Il Giornale both report.

A bill to this effect from the right-wing governing Lega party led by Transport Minister Matteo Salvini has been tabled in Parliament in Rome.

Experts said the move was odd considering that the Vespa is available as an electric scooter in several versions that retain the ICE original’s curvaceous look and style.

Italy’s attempt echoes voices within the EU that seek to push back a planned ban on the sale of internal combustion-engined vehicles beyond the 2035 deadline. Germany wants the same for cars that run on synthetic fuels.

“In view of its symbolic value and outstanding manufacturing quality, as well as its historical, artistic and cultural value” the Vespa Piaggio motorbike, patented in 1946, is to be recognized as “national cultural heritage,” according to the bill, which is actively supported by Salvini.

“Including the Vespa in the list of vehicles of national interest to protect it from any kind of traffic restriction is a common sense proposal that we actively supported to defend a heritage, a myth and an Italian symbol on two wheels that is known and admired all over the world,” Salvini said in a letter. Savlini fears the scooter could be axed.

Salvini said the Vespa must “ride freely” regardless of any traffic restrictions in connection with pollutant emissions. The Vespa, with its petrol engine, will otherwise end up being “crushed under the axe of the European ‘Green Deal.'”

The Vespa is known the world over and for many years it was powered by a smelly two-stroke engine that burned a climate-unfriendly mixture of petrol and oil. Modern versions use much cleaner four-stroke engines with electronic ignition.