Eighty years ago, in an Italy aiming to recover from World War II and seeking new forms of freedom and rebirth, Enrico Piaggio predicted that the future would be on two wheels. On April 23, 1946, patent no. 25,546 was registered at the Florence Patent Office, describing a “motorcycle with a rational assembly of parts and elements, with a frame combined with mudguards and a covering body enclosing all mechanical parts". The Vespa was born. Over the last eighty years, the Vespa has traveled paths unrivaled by any other vehicle: it has entered modern art museums, from the MoMA in New York to the Museum of Italian Design at the Triennale in Milan; it has appeared in dozens of films, from Roman Holiday starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck to contemporary productions; and it has become a cult object for collectors and enthusiasts all over the world. But the Vespa’s anniversary is not only a celebration of the past. It is also a snapshot of a vibrant market deeply rooted in Italian culture. This is supported by data from Subito, Italy's top re-commerce platform: in 2025, "Vespa" was the most searched word on the platform, with approximately 13 million searches. This data reveals a lot about how Italians perceive this vehicle: the Vespa circulates online like it has always done on the streets, with its distinctive ability to catch attention and arouse desire. Eighty years after its first patent, the engine of the collective imagination has never stopped.