The Vespa may be a global success-story, but it was created in a climate of post-War hardship. Its voluptuous curves and wasp-waist remind us of the New Look and the economic recovery of the 1950s, but it was actually designed in 1945, when Italy needed to provide its impoverished population with a means of transport that was cheap to buy and run. Its revolutionary design, in which the engine was concealed inside a "self-bearing" frame, was based on aeronautic principles. Comfortable, economical, and seductively rounded, the Vespa was immediately popular with the Italians. It was not just an industrial product, but a symbol of Italy, especially when it began to be exported all over the world. Its eventual screen stardom (in 'Roman Holiday', 'La Dolce Vita' and later 'Quadrophenia') was the logical outcome of an encounter between an object and an era.