10481 Volo dell'Angelo

In the Dolomiti Lucane in Basilicata at roughly 3600 feet are located the two mountain towns of Castelmezzano and Pietrapertosa on opposing sides of a 1200 foot deep gorge. This location is picturesque in its own right and worth a visit solely to take in the panoramic views of the soaring Dolomiti Lucane and the surrounding country.

These two towns however, have joined together and two years ago they opened Volo dell’Angelo, a high-wire act I doubt you will find anywhere else. They have strung two high tension cables over 4000 feet long across the 1200 foot deep gorge and you can get yourself strapped on for an adrenalin rush as you zip over the gorge head first at 80 mph towards the opposing town. For a round trip you go to the second cable and zip back to the town you started from.

If you are in that area and are going to do the Volo dell’Angelo (Flight of the Angel) I do have a couple warnings:

Of course they speak no English.

The two cables, called Linea San Martino and Linea Paschiere, are located a good distance from each other and they have a navetta that will take you only part of the way between the two launch points. For example when you arrive in Castelmezzano the navetta takes you about a kilometer then you must hike almost two more kilometers to the launch point to return to Pietrapertosa, and the hike will be up almost a 150 meters change in elevation.

The launch point in Pietrapertosa also requires a good climb up from the town.

The flights last only minutes but the entire adventure will require almost an hour.

If you enjoy a little daring then you will not want to miss [URL="http://www.volodellangelo.com"]Volo dell'Angelo[/URL].