The Aprilia Brand dates back to immediately after WWII, when Cavaleir Alberto Beggio founded a factory in Noale, a province of Venice, to manufacture bicycles. Alberto’s son, Ivano Beggio, took over the helm of the company in 1968 and he constructed a 50 cc "motorcycle" with a dozen or so collaborators. The first production Aprilia mopeds were named Colibrì, Daniela and Packi. Aprilia later produced a motocross bike in 1970 called the Scarabeo. Produced until the end of the 1970s, the Scarabeo came in 50 and 125 cc versions. In 1988, the first Aprilias were imported into the United States, starting with the TRX312M observed trials model. The following year, Aprilia introduced The Climber, the first "mass-production" liquid-cooled trials bike.
In 1990, Aprilia launched the Pegaso 600, a road bike derived from off-road mechanics.

In 1992, Aprilia rider Alessandro Gramigni won the World 125 Road Racing Championship title. Also in 1992, Tommy Ahvala won the World Trials Championship on an Aprilia Climber. Since then, Aprilia has 124 times won 125 and 250 cc class Grand Prix, 15 Road Racing World Championship titles, and 16 European speed titles. Many world champions started on Aprilia such as Biaggi, Capirossi, Gramigni, Locatelli, Sakata and Rossi.
Also in the 1990s, Aprilia entered the scooter market starting in 1990 with Italy’s first all-plastic scooter, the Amico. In 1992, Aprilia introduced the Amico LK and the two-stroke single-cylinder enduro-styled Pegaso 125 (a more mildly tuned variant of the Rotax 123 engine as used in the AF1), both with catalytic converters. In 1993 Aprilia launched a large diameter wheel scooter reusing the name Scarabeo with a four-stroke, four-valve engine. Later Aprilia launched additional scooters such as the Leonardo, the SR and the Gulliver, to name a few.

In 1993, Aprilia launched the two stroke RS125 followed by the RS250 in 1994.

In 1995, Aprilia commission Philippe Starck to design the Motò which was shown in New York's Museum of Modern Art.

In 1998 Aprilia launched what is its current flagship model the RSV Mille, a 1000 cc V2 Superbike, and the Falco, a 1000 cc V2 sport tourer with emphasis on sport. Both bikes used a variation of a Rotax 1000 cc engine.

In 1999 Aprilia entered World Superbike Championship racing with its RSV Mille, and during 2000, Aprilia acquired Moto-Guzzi and Laverda, both historic heritage Italian marques.

In 2001 Aprilia launched the 50 cc DiTech (Direct Injection Technology) two stroke engine for scooters which provides high milage and low emissions, and also the RST Futura; true sport tourer, and the ETV 1000 Caponord; an "Adventure Touring Motorcycle" (also known by some as a "Trailie.") Both of these latter two motorcycles used a variation of the Rotax a 1000 cc V2.

In 2003, Aprilia launched the RSV Mille Tuono which was essentially an RSV Mille with motorcross-style high handlebars and only a small headlight fairing. Most of the major motorcycle magazines picked it for the best bike of the year.

As of 2004, Aprilia was acquired by Piaggio & C. SpA, forming the world’s fourth largest motorcycle group with €1.5 billion in sales, an annual production capacity of over 600,000 vehicles, and a presence in 50 countries. With the acquisition by Piaggio, the newly nominated President of Aprilia is Roberto Colaninno (President of Piaggio & C.), and the Managing Director is Rocco Sabelli. The founder, Ivano Beggio, is the Honorary President.

The company is also notable for choosing somewhat atypical engine configurations. For example, they progressed with development of a V2 500 cc Grand Prix bike when other teams were moving to V-Four configurations for what some believed was better & more usable power outputs. Aprilia continued this trend, taking advantage of lighter minimum weights with the introduction of their RS3 MotoGP bike - featuring three cylinders in an inline triple layout, the bike had the least number of cylinders on the Grand Prix paddock.

In February 2008, Aprilia debuted a V-4 superbike for the 2009 World Superbike season.