Peitro Ceccato founded Ceccato motorcycles in 1947, out of Montecchio Maggiore, Italy. Peitro had started a company initially producing office materials, painting sprayers, electric bread ovens, and industrial motors, but post war he realized Italians need for cheap transportation. Due to this demand, he started with building a handful of powered bicycles, which evolved into small motorcycles. These early models were sold mostly to his employees. Once his designs caught on and had a following, Peitro began experimenting with better designs, which produced faster motorcycles. By 1954 racing versions of these motorcycles were being produced by Peitro under the Ceccato name and winning races all over the countryside. In 1961 it was decided it was too expensive to continue to produce more motorcycles, so the remaining stock was used and raced until 1966. Also of note, Ceccato motorcycles were well received in Argentina, and from 1957 through 2002 Guan Zanella successfully produced Ceccatos with machines and tools from Ceccato’s Italian plant, using his own frames. These motorcycles featured "Zanella – Ceccato" branding on the sides.