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Alpino, Italian motorbike produced in Stradella by Pietro Trespidi.

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Pietro Trespidi was born in 1897. After completing his studies at an technical university he moved to Milan, where he was hired by Giuseppe Gilera. In the early twenties he returned to Stradella and he set up his own workshop, where he repaired vehicles and in his spare time, he designed and built a 250 cc two-stroke motorbike. The motorcycle was completed and tested in 1924. In April 1925 it was favorably reviewed by the Motociclismo magazine.The citizens of Stradella helped to start a production facility by buing shares, 100 Lire each. Thanks to the funds raised, on 10 February 1926 the Società Anonima Moto Trespidi was founded and Trespidi's motorcycle went into production. 250cc Sport model (which won the Italian championship while ridden by Ignatius Pernetta) was soon followed by Turismo model, and also a 175cc version. In 1929 production was curtailed due to the onset of of the Great Depression. The firm survived for another few years but finally closed in early 1934.

Trespidi returned to his mechanical workshop, without however abandoning the engine design, in the hope of being able to start a new production activity.

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[thumb:img_8.jpg] In 1944 Trespidi designed and built an auxiliary micromotor prototype to be applied to bicycles which he named "Alpino" (above). On 24 February 1945, with some friends, Trespidi founded the Motobici company, starting production. The "Alpino" soon became an internationally renowned brand with exponentially growing sales, year after year.

In 1951, due to some disagreements with the shareholders, Trespidi abandons Motobici and founded, again in Stradella, SIMES (acronym for Società Industriale MEccanica Stradella) which became better known with the Ardito brand, the name of the first auxiliary engine produced, followed by motoleggere and a scooter.

In 1952 a faired prototype of the Alpino 75 ridden by Andrea Bottigelli achieved 128 km/h in the flying kilometer class, and other records were won by the Perales team in Argentina, where a sales network had been established for the Alpino.

Unfortunately in this time cars started to dominate Italian market, and Argentinian market - which absorbed one-third of the Alpino factory production - had broken due to political crisis caused by the fascist junta. The situation put the company in serious difficulty and forced it to close in 1954.