OltrApe

A tour on a 1970 Piaggio Ape

EDITIONS

Here you have the story about OltrApe and about all the trips we did in these last years on our Ape Radio, a 1970 Ape Piaggio rebuilt. We talk with our peers about the environment, school and future. Discover all the editions here!
2021
2020
2019
2018
2021 has been a very difficult year and a lot of teenagers have been sick and tired. Since we went back to school, hardly anyone has asked us how we are doing. When we were in lockdown we more or less knew what to expect, but this year everything has been much more confusing and we have been really confused. Even if getting back to normal is not the easiest thing in the world, we absolutely have to find the strength to start again!
OltrApe 2021 "How are you?", from 26th July to 31st August 2021, the last journey of Radioimmaginaria realized in collaboration with Emilia-Romagna Region. For more than a month we met a lot of girls and boys like us from Zerba to Cattolica and we asked each of them how they were during this period. If you are curious to know what we found out, stay tuned!
After the 2019 adventure, from Castel Guelfo to Stockholm in search of Greta Thunberg, our ApeRadio has been refurbished and is now even more environmentally friendly! OltrApe 2020, from 22nd July to 31st August 2020, we said from the very beginning of our journey that the aim of this expedition was "to go near to go far". In 2020 we decided to travel the length and breadth of Emilia-Romagna, the region where Radioimmaginaria was born, because sometimes you just have to look around to find beautiful stories.
During the trip, however, we were entrusted by the Region's School Department with another objective: to understand through a survey how us teenagers experienced quarantine and online lessons. We accepted this mission and interviewed more than 1000 young people to find out what it's like to go back to school after a pandemic.
OltrApe is our expedition. We realised this for the first time on March 15th 2019 when, after the First Global Climate Strike, for the first time our generation, who had never taken to the streets, started demonstrating for our future.
Connecting through radio to 50 cities in 12 different countries and reporting on what was happening around the world, we realised we wanted to visit Greta in her home in Stockholm, right where it all began. So we thought of an epic quest. We were going to leave with the ApeRadio, a 1970 Ape bought in Partinico in 2018 and transformed into a radio station. From July 29th to August 23rd 2019. 8 countries crossed: Italy, France, England, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Denmark and Sweden for 4972 km. All at 45 km/h! Taming an Ape is much more difficult than it sounds, but we did it.

Not only did we realise how little we are doing for our planet, but we also realised how important it is to live in Europe and to defend our home. Now it's up to us, because if we all get together, we can make a difference. The future is ours.
If someone were to propose to you, fresh out of high school and fresh off getting your driving licence, that you make a 1400-kilometre journey across half of Italy, what would you say? And what if they added that this infinite journey would have to be made in an Ape Piaggio? Exactly. Well, I already find it hard enough to get around the city in any kind of vehicle, just imagine if I have to drive from Palermo to Bologna in this cart!
An Ape, bought by us at Radioimmaginaria from a gentleman who sold it to us in Partinico, Sicily. I don't know what we're going to use it for yet, maybe a little bit as a mascot, a little bit as a company vehicle, we could even have a travelling editorial office on it, who knows? The only thing I know for sure is that it might have a few problems here and there, but whatever, as the man who sold it to us would say.

In short, this vehicle has to be recovered somehow, to take it to the radio station's headquarters, which is precisely in Castel Guelfo di Bologna. August 2018, 10 days of travel, 1400 km from Partinico to Castel Guelfo. OltrApe was born like this.