Modern Vespa

Indeed. Originally Piaggio built planes, and other vehicles like streetcars. Until after WWII.
Then the company was split up between planes on the one hand and scooters on the other hand.

As you know in WWII Italy was on the wrong side and after the war their plane business did not work anymore and disappeared, while that scooter idea proved to be filling a real need for cheap transportation in Italy and flourished.

Actually, Piaggio makes several models of aircraft today. Their P.180 business turboprop is one of the fastest and most fuel efficient aircraft in its class.

I have actually seen one of these in flight. Boy, is it noisy!

"Interior noise is lower than in conventional turboprop aircraft, because the propellers and engine exhausts are behind the cabin. Piaggio quotes 68 dBA. However, due to the strongly disturbed flow in which the pusher propellers operate, the exterior noise is higher. The exterior noise level and its higher pitched sound has been shown to be the result primarily of the interaction of the turbine engine exhaust flows and the five-bladed pusher propellers (est. +9 dB).[43] On takeoff, the Avanti has been measured at 81.9 dBA sideline noise level, slightly lower than the Beechcraft King Air at 82.8 dBA. This is below FAA stage-3 noise limits, which set a maximum of 89 EPNdB for takeoff.[44][45] However, the P180 has been the subject of noise complaints at airports, such as Aspen–Pitkin County Airport in Colorado,[46] as well as Naples Municipal Airport, Florida, where that airport authority determined that it was the noisiest aircraft using the facility.[47] Alan Parker, chairman of the Naples Municipal Airport Authority's technical committee, described the Avanti as "irritating loud" and compared the high-pitched sound "to fingernails on a chalkboard".[48]"
https://tinyurl.com/qbboyr5

Yeah, if you're an airplane person (and I am), that sound is unique enough that you'll run outside to see what's flying overhead.
That being said, after a couple of weeks living at the end of a runway in Kuwait, I got to the point of sleeping through the takeoff noise of 4 ship Tornado sorties less than 500 feet away. Turboprops are tiny gnat noises compared to that.
Choosing to live near an airport and then complaining about noise never made sense to me.
'Course, I like two strokes triples with expansion chambers, too.

Does everything designed and built in Italy have to look and operate like it began as a drawing by Leonardo Di Vinci? At some point, it should have been obvious to the people making this plane that there were a lot of reasons nobody else had the same great idea.

is it the one that flies in and out of Van Nuys?

I'm on approach and that damn thing makes me run outside and look every dang time!

Yes it is.

We live under the east runway flight path, so we only get the little planes over our house. The jets and other commercial and corporate planes use the west runway. That's where I saw the Piaggio.

I flew in one of the Piaggio planes back in 2005.

I remember the spacious cabin.

At 6'-2, I could stand up inside.

It was efficient too, taking a group of five from St. Augustine to a cast stone plant in West Palm Beach, then another in Naples (FL) before getting all of us home in time for dinner.

Bill

Actually, Beechcraft built a similar aircraft from 83-95 called the Starship. It promised light jet speeds and turboprop economy. It was built of composites but ended up heavier than planned, and was not a substantial improvement over Beechcraft's King Air 350. Beechcraft pulled the plug and bought them all back (except one) so they wouldn't have to maintain a unique supply chain for liability protection. Last I heard, the one they couldn't buy back belonged to a doctor in the Florida Panhandle. I saw it fly a couple of times in the late 90s.

Yeah, the high ceiling was/is a selling point, compared to King Airs and Citations where you have to duck walk to get to the lavatory/honeypot area.

When I used to travel in King Airs, noise cancelling headphones were a must.

The Citation is much quieter and a hundred knots faster.

I had no idea.
But the plane had its first flight in 1986. That is roughly 40 years after WWII.
Was there any plane in between?

there are several, mostly trainer and military service. however the fat cut of the hog was in engine development, manufacture and maintenance.

there's all kinds of cool and quirky little stuff that flies out of there. and the helicopter traffic!

but I really can't wait till summer when the war birds start hopping around!