VOLUME 59 ISSUE 45 NOVEMBER 8, 2022 P93
There are far, far less pretty
places to ride a motorcycle than
Mandello del Lario, and the Moto
Guzzi factory is one block from
where this photo was taken.
T
he view is like something from a Sean
Connery Bond film. Crystal clear,
glass-smooth waters drift by as the
road snakes its way along the base of the
cliffs overlooking Mandello del Lario, the
million-dollar houses dotted on the hillsides
matched to a billion-dollar view.
No wonder George Clooney chose near-
by Lake Como as his home, for the area is,
as my mother so neatly put it, one of the
singularly most beautiful places on earth.
Mandello del Lario is famous for breath-
taking views and motorcycles with strangely
mounted motors. The transverse V-twin is a
Moto Guzzi trademark, the epochal engine
elevating the niche manufacturer into a
realm occupied by no one else.
The transverse V-twin is more Guzzi than
the pushrod V-twin is Harley. Produce one
without the famous Italian eagle on the tank
and you'd be merely copying.
The $17,490 V100 Mandello S, on which
I'm enjoying my northern Italian dream
state, is significant not just in that it's new,
but because this motorcycle houses Moto
Guzzi's first-ever water-cooled 90° V-twin.
MOTO GUZZI IS OFFICIALLY 100 YEARS OLD, SO THEY'VE
THROWN A PARTY IN THE FORM OF THE SPLENDID V100 MANDELLO
BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK
