Officine Benelli

Pesaro (ITA)

HEADQUARTERS AND COLLECTIONS
The thousand-square-meter "Officine Benelli" at Viale Mameli 22 is the last example of industrial archaeology in Pesaro, the historic headquarters of the metalworking company that helped shape the city's history. The former Benelli factory now houses a permanent exhibition of 150 Benelli and MotoBi motorcycles. The exhibition begins in the Tonino Benelli room, which displays photographs of motorcycle racers astride Benelli and MotoBi motorcycles, trophies from every era, and Benelli, MotoBi, and Molaroni engines. It continues in the large room dedicated to Giuseppe Benelli, where, in addition to the first motorcycle to pass through Pesaro in 1897, a De Dion Bouton tricycle, two extremely rare Molaroni motorcycles from the 1920s and 1930s, Benellis built before the Second World War and renowned for their technical and aesthetic refinement in the 1930s, are on display. The second room features all versions of the Leoncino model, a motorcycle that marked the rebirth of the Benelli brand after the devastation of the Second World War. In the same hall, the multi-cylinder six- and four-cylinder motorcycles built in the 1970s, when the Pesaro-based brand was acquired by Argentine industrialist Alejandro De Tomaso, are prominently featured. The exhibition then continues to the mezzanine level, a fascinating 250-square-meter structure entirely made of wood, where all the models produced by Motobì, "the aristocrat among motorcycles," from 1950 to 1970 are on display, along with the entire fantastic series of Benelli and Motobi mopeds, undisputed market leaders in the 1960s. A space on the mezzanine level is also dedicated to an unrealistic collection of racing motorcycles built in the province of Pesaro between the 1960s and 1980s: MBA, Morbidelli, Piovaticci, Sanvenero, and MotoBi. All motorcycles competed in various world-class competitions. The extraordinary story of the six Benelli brothers is told by the members of the two associations that manage the museum, engaging visitors in a unique setting thanks to the fact that the motorcycles on display were designed and built on those premises. The astonishing stories of the riders, from Tonino Benelli to Valentino Rossi, the first and last of a generation of riders who enthralled thousands of fans, further enrich a pleasant visit to the motorcycling world of an area undeniably rich in history.

The Benelli and Marchigiana Motorcycle Museum, for which the name Mototeca Storica Marchigiana has been adopted, is intended as an important and integral part of the overall project known as Officine Benelli. Its stated purpose is to simultaneously serve as:

Exhibition Museum of Benelli Motorcycles – MotoBi and Marchigiana Motorcycles;

Cultural Center for the collection and dissemination of motorcycle culture;

Conference Room available to the Museum and/or the Municipal Administration;

Vintage Motorcycle Restoration School;

Meeting Point with attached restaurant;

Headquarters of the Benelli Motorcycle Club and the Benelli Historic Registry

 

https://www.officinebenelli.it/officine/2021/il-museo/