Ferdinando Innocenti

Ferdinando Innocenti was born in Pescia, Tuscany, on September 1, 1891. When he was only 18, he opened his first hardware store in Grosseto. He then moved to Rome, in 1922. Here, he first sold and then also manufactured iron pipes for industrial use.

In 1933, after a Roman decade during which he worked for the Dalmine Spa company and produced pipes and tubes also for the Vatican, Innocenti moved to Milan. In Italy's northern industriali center, he founded the "Ditta Innocenti," opening a factory for the production of iron pipes in the Lambrate neighborhood.

During World War II, Innocenti collaborated with the Allies and financially supported the Italian Resistance.

After the war, he was for appointed CEO of the Dalmine Spa, a role he held until 1950, when he decided to concentrate on the Lambrate plants and to invest further in diversifying his production, enlarging the transport equipment division. As early as 1947, in fact, Innocenti had begun the distribution and marketing of a new motorcycle, the Lambretta. Together with its main competitor, the Vespa, the Lambretta low-cost motor scooter would change the habits and lifestyles of Italians, promoting an all-Italian new idea of mobility.

Under Ferdinando's leadership, the Innocenti company also entered the American market, opening a U.S. branch, the Innocenti Corp, in New York,  and making contacts and contracts with over 400 dealers throughout the United States.

Ferdinando Innocenti died in Varese in June 1966, leaving the guidance of the company to his son Luigi.

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