A brief history of Aero Caproni s.p.a. of Trento.
Made in Italy 1947-1958
After graduating in Civil Engineering in Monaco, Electrotechnics in Belgium and Aeronautical Engineering in Paris, Ing. Giovanni Battista Caproni - later Count Taliedo - returned home to Massone d'Arco in Italy and in 1908 established the Caproni firm, destined to become one of Italy's largest industrial groups of the interwar years.
Dr. Ing. Gianni Caproni of Taliedo had been ordered in 1940 to attend to "every industrial and commercial activities relating to transport planes and aircraft engineering". After World War II, the Allies prohibited those who had supplied the Italian military from continuing production, so in 1947 Aero-Caproni switched from aircraft to motorcycle production, beginning with a 48cc ciclomotore two-stroke. They also built frames for Ducati's "Cucciolo T3" and "Ducati 60".
Giuseppe Perini built the A50 prototype engine of what would become the Capriolo 75, presented in the summer of 1950 at the Motorcycle Fair of Milan. Capriolo is a species of deer which inhabits the forests of Trento.
By 1951 they were producing sophisticated and elegant four speed 75cc four-strokes with pressed steel chassis, later enlarged to 100cc and 125cc. Their more interesting machines included a horizontally opposed 149cc twin in 1955, and competition machines with 75cc engines using the Küchen desmodromic system of the 1920s.
From 1953 to 1959 they also produced NSU engined machines under the Caproni Vizzola marque with models name Cavilux and Cavimax, the latter based on the NSU Max engine. At one time the range also included a face-cam OHV single, and they also built a range of three-wheelers. In 1958 the Capriolo company name was changed to Aeromere, which ceased production in 1964. The Trento motorcycle factory was sold to Laverda. The parent company, Aero-Caproni, continued to build aircraft, some of which were very advanced. Their jet-powered glider remains one of the most extraordinary sailplanes ever constructed.
