The Piaggio Company originated from a company which had its roots in the building of ships and trains and was established  in 1884. Early in the 20the century , in 1915 , the first aeroplanes were built under license.
Giovanni Casiraghi, a successful engineer, was already employed in the late 1930s by Piaggio Aero  and created many successful aircraft types.

The Piaggio Focke Wulf 149 D has its origins in early post-war Italy. The Piaggio Companyn in Genova survived post-war years by diversifying its production; a method which led to the success of the "VESPA" , and in the aircraft field to the production of several successful aircraft designs The first post-war production aircraft was the P-136, a modern amphibious plane, followed by the P-166 landplane.
In 1950  Giovanni Casiraghi designed the P-148, an all-metal 2 seater tailwheel trainer, from which the P-149 was developed.