Cult Of Vespa

by Umberto Eco, Omar Calabrese, Lina Wertmüller

Here is the entertaining history about the most successful 'cult-scooter' Vespa in its 50th anniversary. Not many products reach the goal of a fifty-year-life-span. The 50 years of Vespa are even more striking if one considers the condition and the period in which it came to existence. Many post-war inventions were forgotten when income rose and life standard improved. But Vespa instead, developed from a utility vehicle, into an international success, a 'cult-object', which has given rise to the creation of associations and collector's guilds world-wide. Text by Umberto Eco, Omar Calabrese, Lina Wertmuller, François Burkhardt, Maurizio Bertini, and many other celebrities.

Genres: Vespa

168 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2001

About the author

Umberto Eco was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular 1980 novel The Name of the Rose, a historical mystery combining semiotics in fiction with biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory, as well as Foucault's Pendulum, his 1988 novel which touches on similar themes.

Eco wrote prolifically throughout his life, with his output including children's books, translations from French and English, in addition to a twice-monthly newspaper column "La Bustina di Minerva" (Minerva's Matchbook) in the magazine L'Espresso beginning in 1985, with his last column (a critical appraisal of the Romantic paintings of Francesco Hayez) appearing 27 January 2016. At the time of his death, he was an Emeritus professor at the University of Bologna, where he taught for much of his life. In the 21st century, he has continued to gain recognition for his 1995 essay "Ur-Fascism", where Eco lists fourteen general properties he believes comprise fascist ideologies.