All new for the 105th anniversary: Moto Guzzi celebrated the reopening of its headquarters

105 years of Moto Guzzi – not a milestone anniversary. Nevertheless, for the brand with the eagle, this was reason enough to organise a spectacular celebration at its headquarters in Mandello del Lario and, as it does every year, to invite fans of the long-established manufacturer to Lake Como. The occasion for the ‘Moto Guzzi World Days’ in 2026, held on the first weekend in September, was none other than that very headquarters, which was reopened as part of the event following five years of construction.

Im Rahmen der Neueröffnung wurden auch die Fertigungsstraßen runderneuert

Foto: Moto Guzzi

The project is said to have cost 50 million euros, with parent company Piaggio describing it as ‘the most visionary and ambitious architectural project of recent years’. The refurbishment is integrated into the historic factory site, which first opened its doors in 1921 and has been producing motorbikes continuously ever since. According to estimates, between 10,000 and 15,000 units were most recently rolling off the production line each year. In 1954, the now legendary wind tunnel was opened within the historic factory complex, nestled in the mountainous landscape on Lake Como, making Moto Guzzi the world’s first motorbike manufacturer with aerodynamic expertise. This too was restored as part of the refurbishment, with the adjacent production halls expanded by 5,500 square metres of new industrial space and the offices by 380 square metres of office space. The total area of the plant has thus risen to over 38,000 square metres, where newly designed production lines are now in use. Alongside equally new tools and aids such as floor-based robots, these are intended to reduce the workload on the workers. At the end of the production line, for example, Moto Guzzi utilises floor-based transport drones supplied by its sister company ‘Piaggio Fast Forward’. Measures such as these are intended to help increase the plant’s maximum production capacity to around 30,000 motorbikes whilst still, according to the manufacturer, meeting “the most exacting quality standards”.

The site also includes a new brand museum, which, according to the organisers, is said to have attracted around 30,000 visitors on the opening weekend alone and in which 160 exhibits from the company’s history are on display. A total of 60,000 visitors are said to have attended the Moto Guzzi World Days 2026, around half of them on the final day of the three-day event.

Guzzisti aus aller Welt fanden sich ein und bildeten am Samstag eine Parade

Foto: Moto Guzzi

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One of the annual highlights of the event was the now traditional motorbike parade, which featured around 1,500 Moto Guzzis from every era of the brand’s history, as well as the MotoGP riders from sister company Aprilia, led by World Championship leader Jorge Martin, Marco Bezzecchi and test and reserve rider Lorenzo Savadori. The parade was accompanied by the Italian President’s honour guard, the ‘Corazzieri’.

To mark the occasion, the Italian brand also showcased the Stelvio, V100 Mandello, V85 Strada and V7 Stone models as special editions bearing the additional designation ‘105th Anniversary’. These are to be available in unlimited numbers, but for a limited time only for the new model year until the end of 2027. The most distinctive feature is the colour scheme, painted in grey with a pearlescent finish to echo the metallic surfaces of the new factory. Yellow accent stripes are also featured.

Teil des Neubaus ist das Museum mit 160 Exponaten

Foto: Moto Guzzi