VIDEO – Wood arriving in Barga Vecchia

The Piaggio Ape - Italian for 'bee - is a three-wheeled light commercial vehicle, manufactured and marketed by Piaggio as an adaption of the company's Vespa scooter — in continuous production since its 1948 introduction and offered in numerous body configurations to serve a wide range of utilitarian functions. Initially marketed as the VespaCar or TriVespa, Piaggio subsequently marketed the utility vehicle as the Ape — derived from the Italian for bee; its scooter marketed as the Vespa, meaning wasp. After World War II, when Italians could ill afford personal transportation, aircraft designer Corradino D'Ascanio, in 1947 , conceived a light and simple three-wheeled commercial vehicle, finding favour with Piaggio.