Lariana Boat Museum
Lariana Boat Museum
Born in 1897 in Malgrate, on Lake Como, Pietro wasn’t in school yet, but he was already talking about pistons and trains, distinguishing between different models, and asking questions of train engineers and mechanics. He fed his imagination and curiosity with illustrated magazines, at a time when Italian society was undergoing profound changes and experiencing great scientific and technological progress.
It was precisely his home region, the Lecco area, that was becoming one of Italy’s most industrialized districts during those years. The metallurgical and mechanical industries are flourishing, and large companies and steel mills are being established.
During World War I, Vassena served in the Bersaglieri Cyclists. He studies sidecars, cars, cannons, tanks, and even British and American equipment.
After the war, he worked as a lathe operator at Faini, a company that specialized in umbrella shafts and bicycle spokes. Here, Pietro studies, observes, suggests changes, and comes up with ideas. First, he built a machine for the automatic production of spokes for moped wheels; then, he perfected a two-stroke auxiliary engine for use on bicycles, winning the award for lowest fuel consumption in the motorized bicycle category.
We are under a policy of self-sufficiency, and Italy is subject to an embargo. An importer of American outboard motors turned to Vassena to develop an Italian product, and Pietro went on to produce the ELIOS—outboard motors that are as small and lightweight as they are efficient. These are the first outboard motors manufactured in Italy, and they will be sold everywhere—in Italy, in America, and even in Africa.
Given the fuel shortage, Vassena inventedAutargas, a device that can be installed on any type of internal combustion engine. His subsequent gas generator was widely used during World War II for civilian and military transportation, for Red Cross vehicles, and even on some Ansaldo railcars.
We’re not talking about a mechanical engineer, but about a self-taught person with only an elementary school education who was able to envision the future. And for Pietro, the future went far beyond that.
Vassena looks out at her lake and is interested in submarines and underwater exploration. For years, he studied formula after formula with passion and dedication, eventually building a first prototype of a torpedo-firing submarine and, later, the Snorkel Delfino, which would become the fastest underwater vehicle in the world. But his claim to fame would come with the C3 bathyscaphe, a masterpiece of engineering, with which he set the world diving record by reaching the bottom of Lake Como at -412 meters.
Like all great geniuses, Pietro, too, feels the need to explore various avenues. In the 1950s, he designed truly innovative engines and motorcycles, many of which were manufactured by RUMI, a company based in Bergamo. And then another innovation: the transparent alarm clock made entirely of plastic, a precursor to the more modern Swatch watches.
If we were to imagine Pietro Vassena, however, the iconic image would have him dressed in a double-breasted suit, calmly gliding across the waters of Bellagio on his exclusive Skivass—the precursors to modern paddleboarding; from the lake, he slyly waved to President Kennedy, who was visiting in 1963, earning himself the nickname “ the man who walks on water.”
The last true inventor—driven more by passion than by commercial interests—Vassena was also a great entrepreneur, holding some forty patents and creating original advertising campaigns in which he featured himself as the spokesperson, once again anticipating today’s trends.
The Barca Lariana Museum wishes to honor the memory of Pietro Vassena, a man who embodied genius, foresight, and a healthy dose of recklessness—qualities that, today more than ever, deserve to be passed down to future generations as a beautiful and, if you will, romantic chapter in our country’s history.
The exhibition “VASSENA: THE SPORT OF INVENTING” will be open to the public at the Barca Lariana Museum every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
