quirky museums near Milan, part 1 (of 2) : the scooter & lambretta museum

let's go to Milan and check something off that list

I am a list maker. I make list everytime, for everything. I have dozens of bullet points to (sooner or later) check off, they are on the files in my computer, handwritten and hanging on the board next to my desk, on the pages of my many notebooks. one of those list is named "Marco and Silvia's places to visit", and, since it came to our attention, several years ago,  that a lambretta museum existed, of course it entered the list, to be finally marked with a satisfying tick a few weeks ago: our pilgrimage has been done. 

we planned a weekend in Milano to visit a couple of small, quirky museums just outside the city, and have a little urban adventure. the lambretta museum was our first stop (the second is going to have its own post, it deserves it) and, even if I was fearing to be disappointed (it sometimes happens when you're planning on doing something for a long time), it really has been the loveliest, super charming visit. 

the Museo Scooter & Lambretta lies in Rodano, about 15 km from the city centre, and it has been founded, and managed since then, by Vittorio Tessera, who is kind of a legend in the lambretta world, and an extremely nice guy, with a big big passion, in the regular world.

Vittorio

Vittorio Tessera was born in Milan the same year our lambretta was built (1960) and is now one of the best known lambretta restorer and collector, who runs Casa Lambretta, famous workshop and Italy's best supplier of Innocenti's spare parts, the Museum, which he created from his personal collection of vintage scooters from all over the world, and also owns thousands of original pictures (I was swooning when he showed me some of them - his computer is a real vintage awesomeness vault), documents and memorabilia about the lambretta, donated to him by the Innocenti family and former workers of the Innocenti factory, that can also been consulted at the museum by request. oh, he also founded the Lambretta Club of Italy and wrote like six books about - guess what? - yes, about the most beautiful italian scooter ever made, the Innocenti lambretta (we have 2, 3 after the museum, of them, I talked about them here). 

maybe that's not everything you can possibly know about Mr. Tessera but I think you got it: he is a living archive, a treasure hunter, the go-to person when it comes to our beloved scooter. in one word, awesome.

an amazing collection

so, Vittorio Tessera knows a thing or two about scooters, and, something like 30 years ago, started collecting them. his goal was to own any model significant for the world history of scooters, along with every lambretta created, plus the special editions {like the Olympics one or the gold one} and racing lambrettas, too. so he flew all over the globe to collect mopeds, that now are displayed in a big open space above Casa Lambretta workshop, classified by production period and nationality, with museum labels on their side, describing model and context, and original (♥♥♥) advertising posters in the background. Vittorio himself serves as tour guide, colouring the visit with stories and anecdotes.

the practical stuff

address MUSEO SCOOTERS & LAMBRETTA via Kennedy, 38 Rodano (MI) Italy

website {italian only} www.museoscooter.it 
facebook page www.facebook.com/CasaLambretta/

opening hours from monday to friday 9.00 - 12.00 / 14.30 - 18.00. saturday and sunday on request

telephone number 02-95320438