Vespa's 80th birthday: Scooter adored by stars has eye-watering valuation

EXCLUSIVE: Vespa's 80th birthday: Scooter adored by stars has eye-watering valuationAs Vespa turns 80 next week, the Italian scooter remains a design classic that refuses to go out of fashion. Not bad for a budget bike born out of the ruins of World War 2.NewsMatt Roper Senior Features Writer and Hannah Britt, Senior Reporter Mirror Features17:00, 19 Apr 2026View 8 ImagesAngie Dickinson posing on a Vespa - 1950s(Image: Everett/Shutterstock)It was the movie moment that transformed a cheap motor scooter into a global style icon - and one of the world’s most enduring symbols of cool. Few can forget the sight of Audrey Hepburn - a runaway princess in the movie Roman Holiday - effortlessly gliding through the streets of Rome on a Vespa with Gregory Peck.‌Hepburn won an Oscar for the 1953 film - but what most transfixed cinema goers was the sleek Italian machine the pair were riding. “That Oscar should have gone to the other ‘female star,’ Forbes magazine later wrote. “While Gregory Peck was courting Hepburn, the whole world fell in love with the metallic green Vespa 125.”‌The iconic scenes meant the Vespa - originally conceived as a cheap and easy way to get around Rome’s bombed out roads - became instantly popular around the world. Over the next eight decades it remained one of youth culture's coolest accessories, loved by everyone from movie stars to Mods and music legends. And as Vespa turns 80 next week, the Italian scooter remains a design classic that refuses to go out of fashion.‌READ MORE: Driving my 19ft-long 1967 Cadillac in drizzly Britain was a Hollywood fantasyCelebrations in June will see the Vespa back on the streets of Rome, when tens of thousands of ‘Vespisti’ - the affectionate name for Vespa owners - will recreate Hepburn and Peck’s two-wheeled adventures as they swarm around the Eternal City during “four days of partying”. Italian makers Piaggio will also be releasing 80th anniversary special editions, including the new Primavera (50cc/150cc...