May 2001, and at work I get landed with a new project.  Little did I know at the time, but an ambition was soon to be realized, read on….
 
To cut a long story short, my current project involves two multinational companies, which are now one.  The ironic thing being, both these companies have had strong links with our beloved Lambretta in the past, BP and Castrol.  This is illustrated by today’s various re-made transfers, printed courtesy of Cambridge Lambretta Workshops.

As part of the project we have visited BP and Castrol in a number of European countries, lucky for me I get handed Italy, or, was it more the case of twisting the project managers arm, anyway thanks Alan.  To get to the point, in Italy the HQ of Castrol is in Milan, whoooopeeeee !!!

In a 3 day visit I managed to set aside a couple of hours to take a look where it all happened until 1971, Via Pitteri and the former site of the Innocenti factory, the sacred soil !  So, before I headed  out there I had to find out where it actually was in Milan, not knowing at the outset which street or area in the city to head for.  Having a limited amount of time, I didn’t want to spend 3 hours walking round scratching my head thinking is this it??

As ever the internet proved useful and I found a web site with Milan street maps, I knew the factory was in the Lambrate region so that was a good start, next I had to pin-point the streets which were on the boundary of the factory site.  I called a few people and sent a few emails with little success, then I sat down and flicked through the pages of Nigel Cox’s Lambretta book, in there was an illustration of Ferdinando Innocenti’s business card, bingo, a street name, Via Pitteri.  At last I knew where to head for, thanks Nigel.

So, the day came and we flew out to Milan.  We landed at Malpensa airport, about 30km out of Milan, from here we caught the train.  The reason I tell you this is, at the station we all picked up a free pocket Milan visitors guide.  Low and behold in this, a six-page feature on the history of the Lambretta scooter and its connection with Milan.  What a coincidence !  Now my colleagues didn’t think I was totally nuts, my anorak status was waning!!

After getting to the hotel and unpacking I headed for Lambrate subway station, about 2km from the city centre, then headed off on foot to find Via Pitteri.

Sadly, when I got there I found that another piece of our beloved Lambretta’s history looks soon to be no more.  Half the factory site has literally now gone, though a few important historical buildings still stand, for now.  As I stood at the south east edge of the former site, the junction with Via Pitteri and Via Rubattino, the shear size of the sight became apparent, the side of the sight which borders with Via Pitteri has gone to give way to the development of high rise apartment complex, an architect’s plan of how the site is planned to look displayed how history will be removed to make way for the future.   I wonder if they name any of the new buildings after our beloved machines, or their designers?

Looking down Via Rubattino, the first building of interest was built around one of the entrances, boarded up, big iron gates, but not flattened yet?  Is it to stay?  About 300 yards up the road, I noticed another building, which I immediately recognised, the “Centri Studi”, camera in hand I headed up the road.

Quite a lot seemed to be going on around the Centri Studi, which seemed to be being used as an admin block for the building site personnel.  Now, I had gone with fetching back a souvenir in mind, as luck would have it the building contractors had knocked a gap in the aging high boundary wall, right outside the Centri Studi.  I noticed a few loose bricks, so, when the site entrance security guard was busied by a concrete delivery driver, I grabbed a brick from the wall and stashed it in my bag.  I felt as chuffed as a kid on Christmas morning !!  My anorak status had returned !

From here, I continued down Via Rubattino and continued snapping pictures of what remains behind the boundary wall.  As you probably know, the city bypass goes straight over the old factory site.  The other side of the flyover seams to remain quite complete, with some work still going on there.  All the entrances apart from one on Via Rubattino were bricked up or locked, with graffiti emblazoned all over them.  On the last entrance on Via Rubattino is the “INNSE” entrance, a spin off from Innocenti, the heavy machinery side of the business.

Later, I headed back towards Via Pitteri and then up the east side of the site, Via Pitteri itself.  As I neared the north side of the site I noticed, beyond the flyover in the distance, one of the 2 famous water towers,which used to stand above the skyline.  One of the water towers, which stood near the Centri Studi on the scooter production side of the plant has long gone, I felt compelled to get a photograph of this remaining water tower, to complete my mission.

Problem was the other water tower is at the side of the factory, which borders with open land.  So my only hope of getting a decent photo was actually on the fly over itself.  So this is where I was to be a bit sad !  I set off to find a taxi driver to drive me over the fly over, I found one, he took me over, and I think he thought I was completely mad.  Best seven quid I had ever spent.  After that my mission felt complete and I headed back into the beautiful city of Milan.

Rest in peace Mr Innocenti, thank you for bringing us so much pleasure.  Full size photographs I took in Milan at the site can also be seen on our scooter club web site www.doncasterhunters.co.uk.
Also, if you are interested there is a web site with information on the new Parcogrande development, site address is www.parcogrande.it.

CRAIG STANDEVEN