This had initially manufactured rolling-stock but had moved into aircraft production by the outbreak of World War II.
Their factory was seriously damaged by Allied bombing and was unable to continue aircraft production when the war ended.
This proved to be a far-sighted move, as Piaggio would eventually become one of the biggest manufacturers of two-wheel vehicles in the world.
[3] Piaggio had also been critically wounded in September 1943, following a shooting incident in the lobby of the Excelsior Hotel in Florence.
Enrico Piaggio was the second husband of Paola Antonelli, the widow of the El Alamein commander Colonel Alberto Bechi Luserna.