Latisana Flowers Festival

On sunday the 12th of April our girlfriends went to Venice in the morning, by train, to enjoy a sunny day. Few minutes later their departure, Paolo started a whatsapp chat called “Ci diamo del gas?” (Let’s give gas). At 11 am, Paolo, Cica (with his “new” PX125!) and me (on the old VNB) met at Sandrons’ in Pertegada. Sun was shining on our sunglasses and on our Vespas and, after a beer, we went to Latisana. Once a year, in this small town a Flowers Festival takes place, quite nice, not so big. In the biggest square of Latisana (piazza Indipendenza), you can find pedlars selling flowers and other products from this area. Some wine-producers sell their wines, offering also something to eat, mainly fish-based dishes. Gatto and Michele reached us after a while, we already were at the Dino’s gazebo, drinking Prosecco Albafiorita (http://www.albafiorita.com/vino-friulano/) and having raw smooth clams. After some bottles of wine, we drove our Vespas ut to the “Agricolo” (http://goo.gl/8mxKSQ), an agritourism-restaurant 10 km far to have lunch with mixed-grill and homemade red wine. We decided hence to go on, reaching Marano Lagunare, where we met Raffale (ET3 125), Steve (TS 125), Negus (ET3 125) and other friends from Codroipo with their Vespas… so, after almost an hour and half of sunbath, some further proseccos and an espresso, we went back to Latisana. Raffele joined us. We met again at Dino’s place, waiting for the girlfriends that were arriving by train. The day ended with a good pasta with fish sauce and then… it was time to go to bed!

Some pics of the Festival: http://goo.gl/ZlwbpU In the picture, form the left: Paolo and Gatto with our Vespas in Latisana, the Albafiorita’s prosecco, our Vespas in Marano Lagunare

Goodbye Severina!

Spring 2012: the warmest summer of the last 10 years was arriving. At that time I had only my 50R and I wanted a 125cc vespa, mainly because I needed to host also a passenger (=my girlfriend Alessia). I needed also a quite “common” vespa, I was living in Trieste and, having no box, I had to leave it between many scooters in a public parking area. I did not want to buy a old, classic-vespa and hence leave it in a public place, under the rain, with the strong wind of Trieste and… under the eyes of thieves. I started to look for a PX, but actually it is quite difficult to find a good vespaPX, in good conditions, for less than 1800 EUR… Then I bought a FL2, almost a PK, one of the last vespa with gears that Piaggio created. My friends at the beginning said I bought a crap, but then they said I did well in buying it, being ready to drive (vespas sometime need to be fixed when you buy them…). My friends called it “Severina”, because in a comic movie of the ‘80s a character called “Severino” had a similar vespa. Have a look at http://goo.gl/T0CzgM . During these years, the Severina has been always very reliable, I drove it for thousand of km with no need of particular maintenance, even going to the Vespa World Days in Mantova. Now I am leaving in a smaller town and… I have a box and my old VNB (my grandpa bought it in the ‘60s) wants to be driven again. So, I decided to sell my Severina to one of my best friend, Simone. He lives in Lignano and I am sure he will take care of it. Well, I hope this was the right choice, otherwise I will say to Simone to sell it back :) and... I hope to have the same sunny days of 2012 and hence to drive for many km also the old VNB!

In the picture, from the left: Gatto (Vespa Sprint), Patric (Vespa TS), and me (on Serverina) @Vespa World Days, June 2014, Mantova