Since its founding in 1921, generations of loyal Moto Guzzi enthusiasts have made pilgrimages to the historic motorcycle producer’s Lake Como-side factory, often simply to take a photograph in front of its iconic red gate. Now, after 105 years in business and almost five years of renovations led by American architect Greg Lynn, the Mandello del Lario campus and production facility is opening to the public with a newly designed museum, event space, shop and café.
Travelling to the Moto Guzzi headquarters is an experience in itself. Located on the eastern shore of Lake Como, the leafy grounds are wedged picturesquely between the steep, rocky foothills of the Prealps and the lake’s tranquil, indigo-blue waters – which, on the day of the opening, are dotted with sailboats and glossy wooden Rivas skimming across the surface.
The company’s founders were wise to establish production in this spectacular location back in 1921, when Carlo Guzzi and Giorgio Parodi began turning their plans for a new kind of motorcycle into reality. Over the century that followed, Moto Guzzi became one of the defining names of Italian motorcycling, its machines serving everyone from ordinary commuters and racing champions to the Italian military and police. By 1934, it was the country’s largest motorcycle manufacturer; during the Second World War, production shifted almost entirely to motorcycles for the Italian Army, while in the postwar period its bikes were adopted by the Polizia di Stato, Carabinieri and the Corazzieri, the presidential guard.
More than 160 of these machines are on display in the new Lynn-designed museum, which, from the exterior, resembles a cluster of grey cupolas rising and falling across the site. Their jagged silhouettes echo the rocky backdrop of the surrounding mountains while striking a distinctly contemporary contrast with the traditional, farmhouse-like buildings that populate the rest of the complex.
Yet, according to Lynn – a pioneer of digitally driven architecture who was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale – this dialogue with the landscape happened largely by accident. ‘I work a lot digitally and we often create these really big models in the office,’ he explains, sitting on a circular OMA-designed sofa by UniFor in the museum’s pristine, all-white foyer, lit from above by skylights whose forms recall gears or spoked wheels. ‘So we never really saw the museum against the mountains. We didn’t anticipate the form resonating so well.’
Instead, the building’s distinctive geometry grew out of the organisation of the interior, which divides the 3,000 sq m museum into a series of interconnected spaces dedicated to different aspects of Moto Guzzi’s history. Within, the collection ranges from the GP, the unique prototype that marked the beginning of Moto Guzzi’s story, to contemporary models, alongside racing bikes and motorcycles associated with cinema, travel, the arts, and the military and police. Moto Guzzi and Lynn worked with the design and engineering team at UniFor to develop the exhibition spaces, a dedicated archive, bespoke structures and plinths for the motorcycles, vitrines for archival material and memorabilia, and display systems for helmets, accessories, clothing and scale models. The machines are arranged across sections devoted to subjects including racing, cinema, travel, art and military and police vehicles.
One of the complex’s most fascinating features, however, is its direct connection to the on-site production facilities. On the museum’s upper level, a viewing platform peers down onto the factory floor, allowing visitors to witness firsthand the precision engineering that goes into the making of a Moto Guzzi motorcycle. One thing visitors will immediately notice is the extensive use of robotics – including platforms that ferry motorcycles from one end of the factory floor to the other – developed in collaboration with Piaggio Fast Forward, the Boston-based robotics company founded by Moto Guzzi’s parent company, Piaggio Group, and also headed by Lynn.
It’s a strikingly high-tech spectacle that feels almost incongruous when set against the tranquil surroundings of Mandello del Lario, a juxtaposition that neatly encapsulates the new campus itself: a place where Italy’s natural beauty, industrial heritage and technological ingenuity converge. And, for the generations of Moto Guzzi devotees who have travelled here simply to stand outside its famous red gate, there is finally a reason to step inside.
