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ROSETTA THE BALLOON AND ALTA MATANNA

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If you leave the Institute and drive beyond Fabbriche di Vallico for twenty minutes to the end of the Turritecava valley, you eventually run into the high peak of Monte Matanna and Monte Nona, at the base of which is the formerly famous and very isolated Alta Matanna hotel. On the other side of the mountain the land drops precipitously into the sea in the space of only a few miles, and the views down to the coastal resorts are spectacular. In the early years of the 20th century, Alta Matanna had a brief period of glory when the Barsi family, the father and son proprietors of the hotel, looked down upon at the Versilia coast from the top of their mountain and thought about the potential paying customers down on the beach. How to get them up to Matanna, only a few miles away from the coast in a straight line, but a terribly long and uncomfortable journey on the indifferent roads? First they considered building a cable car, then they had the idea of using a balloon, and finally they hit upon a rather nice combination of the two. They employed aeronaut Romeo Frassinetti and Milanese engineer Porro Lodi to construct the only aerostatic cableway ever built in Italy. This consisted of a giant hydrogen balloon made of yellow silk named "Rosetta" which was attached to a metal cable strung between pylons. The balloon could then make a guided climb to the top of the mountain, gaining 800 metres in height up a 40 percent gradient. Rosetta made her first trip on the 28th August 1910, an event which featured prominently in the national press on account of her cargo of journalists. She proved to be able to make the ascent carrying up to 7 passengers in around 5 minutes. Her generally wealthy clients were brought by automobile from the seaside resort of Viareggio to Candalla, a little town close to Camaiore and then to the Grotta all'Onda cave, from where the cable ran up to a place called Foce del Pallone (1114 metres above sea level). From this point, passengers were taken in a carriage pulled by two pairs of white horse to the Alta Matanna hotel.

Unfortunately at the end of the season in November 1910 a violent storm destroyed the hangar where "Rosetta" was parked and broke the cable, bringing an end to the project after only four months. Or the balloon was struck by a bolt of lightning and it was destroyed in a gigantic hydrogen explosion, depending on which story you read. It was never rebuilt, and the big chance of bringing significant prosperity to the valley was gone for ever. Possibly. If you're a millionaire, why not consider rebuilding it?

The TTI management have found the upper air station - we think. Can you find any archeological evidence? On this page are 3 rare scanned images from postcards of the time. I wonder if anyone ever took any proper photographs though.. can you find one? There's a challenge.


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