Galloni lightweight motorcycle, 1930

The German pioneer, Gottlieb Daimler (1834-1900), is regarded as the inventor of the motorcycle. In effect, in 1885 he managed to propel a petrol-engined wooden bicycle. Next came more prototypes, such as the brainchildren of an Englishman, Butler (1886), and an Italian, De Bernardi (1893). But the deed of birth of the "motorcyclette" was due to the Werner brothers, of French nationality and Russian extraction: in 1895, they successfully attached to the steering head of a bicycle frame an engine that had been designed to operate an Edison kinetoscope. .

The 16th-century "Edificio Monumentale" provides a dramatic backdrop to the uncommon wealth of machines in the Museum collection, whereby the development of the motorbike is outlined. The emphasis is on the Italian scene.

Look out for:

• Vespa (1946): a fifty-year-long worldwide commercial success
• Lambretta 125 m (1947): a symbol of industrialized Italy

And there's more...:

• Benelli 150 (1926)
• Frera 300 (1913)
• Motoleggera Galloni (1930)
• Moto Gilera 500 (1954)
• M.V. Agusta 500 (1951)
• And many more motorbikes, models and memorabilia