Vespa-ring around Italy
 

Hi all. I'm a long time fan of this site. My wife and I are planning to travel around Italy in August/September this year. I've looked on the net but can't find anywhere to hire a Vespa for an extended period (about 5or 6 weeks). Does anybody have any hints. We are considering taking ours over from NZ if we can't find one to rent. I hear buying one in Italy or France is a hassle.Any info would be greatly appreciated.Cheers.

sorry, can't help with your question. but have you read " Eating Up Italy: Voyages on a Vespa"?

the isbn number is 1841153478

good luck....

Doug

Google: rent hire +vespa +italy

Ciao,
Peter
(returning to NZ by road, starting this year)

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Salut from Southern France, the bikers' paradise,

Peter.

Thanks, no I haven't but I will try to get hold of it. Ta.

Thanks, it's been quite a productive day. I plugged that in and got onto a few more sites. Good luck with the trip.

If you can't find a suitable/agreeable rental outfit, I'd have thought that it would be cheaper & easier to buy a Vespa in Italy than ship yours over? You could try selling it back to the dealer when the trips over?

Get hold of Pete Moore's 'Vroom with a view'... he travelled tound italy on a 'Vep

http://www.petermoore.net/vroom/vroom.htm

With regard to buying a Vespa in italy... I think there's some sort of law that prevents foreigners doing just that. I think the way around it is to get an Italian chum to buy it on your behalf and then borrow it. Good luck... I envy you, I love Vespas (I have two!)



[This message has been edited by Zygmunt (edited 21 March 2005).]

Cheers. I've read the book and you're right. Ciao.

I think there is an outfit called Happy Rent

http://www.happyrent.com/homeeng.htm

I haven't used them. I bought my own but it was very difficult to get registered/insured (via the UK). Info on my trip (with tips) below:

http://www.internetscooter.com/europe/

What option did you take?
 

Scooterman,
Wondering what option you finally went for. Did you rent in Italy or decide to ship your bike over? My girlfriend and I are planning an extended trip to Italy starting off with a tour around Tuscany or the Amalfi coast at the start for a week or two. Rental prices mount up quick but buy-a-scoot option is convoluted, as mentioned elsewhere. I have a scoot I could ship but initial costing looking a little scary.

Hey Scooterman and Scootertutor

I am also doing the same in March/April 09.

My Q is the same; what option did you take?

Vespa-ing Italy....
 

An update so far...

On the inspiration side there are a couple of other books to consider. On the travel adventure side there is another book from Peter Moore - Vroom by the Sea available now in Aussie and NZ and the UK in April.

From a gastronomic angle is Matthew Fort's second book Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons (2008). More about food than life on the road but a good read if you're a foodie.

Have a look here at a list of rental companies offering scooters in various regions and cities in Italy (How's your Italian?). Only problem is that they don't seem to rent Vespas!? :thumbdown:

Only thing I've come across are guided tours on Vespas which are pricey (2,600 Euro for a week) but include accommodation and other bits and pieces. There is another outfit too here.

Not having much luck yet so far... I've contacted an air freight company for a quote to ship my scoot over. If their quote in not 'out of the ballpark' I might consider taking that. :scooter:

Hey... have you had any luck finding a Vespa(s) to use?

Cheers,
drew

Gee, I had forgotten about this post. No, I didn't come up with much in Italy to hire. A lot of places hiring out Taiwanese and Chinese scoots now.......

Sorry it didn't work out, as you probably did find out in the end, buying is just stupidly difficult here in Italy, since a residence permit is required before you can buy and register a scooter under your own name. Plus the prices of classic vespas are incredibly high right now.

On the more positive side, LML scooters, (totally identical to PX series Vespas), are now very common in Europe. Outside Italy, it's perfectly possible to buy, register, (or even temporarily register for export) ,and presumably it's possible to come up with a buy- back agreement from a dealer.

I don't think there are very many rental outfits in Italy who have classic style vespas, and the only ones I've seen (in florence), actually rent LML scooters , and only appear to organize tours, as you said.

If anyone is thinking of doing something like this in future, I'd be glad to give any advice. I'm Italian, living in Slovenia by the way.

Ciao!

Hi,
Funny. I'm planning another trip on my Vespa Rally 200. This time to visit a friend in Slovenia sometime this year.
I've recently riden the vespa to Morocco and back to UK and still want to ride lots more miles it's great. I have a blog all about it.
My friend joined me on a Honda C90 from Portugal
A Long Lay Down: First we need some transport
What classics are the italians riding nowadays? Primaveras or ??
Ciao

Hehe....cool..! I move around a lot but I hope I'll still be around so we can meet up for a beer or few..!

Actually I read your Blog...great pictures and writing..! It's what got me thinking about choosing my PX when I go on my next long trip

Primavera's and any other older Vespas are getting very pricey in Italy and a lot of people keep them very polished so they'll look good for an occasional pose in front of the bar...

You see a lot PXs being used as a commuting bike (like I do, all year round), and a lot of these are in cool battle scarred condition. However they are sometimes used as serious travelling beasts too. You may, but probably haven't heard of a guy called Giorgio Bettinelli. He wrote 3 books, which sadly were never translated, about his various round the world journeys on a PX vespa, the last of which took him from Patagonia up to Alaska, then all across Siberia until europe, then down africa, back up again on the other side, back across asia, and finally ended up in Tasmania..144000 kms, in 3 years !

I have to admit to also owning a G/S, however on my next long trip, probably cappadocia later this year, I find the benefits of being able to rebuild the entire engine with (literally) 3 spanners and a flywheel tool, by far outweigh any other discomfort (actually not much) involved in travelling with a scooter. The luggage loading capacity is maybe even greater than on the BMW!

Keep scooting...and let me know when you'll be around, or if there's anything I can help with!