Difesa Servizi, in coherence with its mission, conceived this important event unique in Italy and of international significance, to promote values, capabilities and traditions of the ItalianAir Force and enhance its brand through the balloon. It is an event conceived with a “medium to long term” vision, organized in collaboration with the Italian Air Force and Aeroclub Pavullo and with the technical support of AERONORD AEROSTATI. The event, which also aims to recall the centenary of the Armed Force and the 100 + 1 project is, in addition, an opportunity and moment of advantage to convey the Italian Air Force’s latest initiatives in the field of research and Aerospace. Italian Air Force Balloon Cup was also created for the promotional activities of Valore Paese Italia, with the unique opportunity to promote, from the sky, the beauty and charm of our country.
Valore Paese Italia is promoted by the Ministry of Tourism, together with Enit – National Tourism Agency, Agenzia del Demanio and Difesa Servizi, with the aim of enhancing the public heritage and sustainable development of Italian territories. A national brand that brings together different thematic circuits related to sustainable tourism and the discovery of the beauty of the Italian territories and in which is recognized the public / private network of subjects that participate in structuring and animating the network.
Over the years, nationwide initiatives to rehabilitate and reuse public assets have attracted tremendous media and public interest. The themes of the valorization of unused assets and places and the partnership with private individuals, who intervene in various capacities, not only concessionaires of the assets, as a lever for the development of structures and territories, have responded to the growing sensitivity toward a different way of conceiving the tourist enjoyment of lesser-known or hitherto inaccessible areas of Italy.
The decisive contribution in terms of ideas, passion, energy, and resources made available by private economic and social operators has contributed to the emergence and perception of a newfound desire to experience the natural, cultural, architectural and landscape beauty of our country, with a typically Italian style and approach. The challenge now is to communicate the consolidation of these activities and the systemization of actions that structure what has been done over time. So far, the revival projects of Italian Lighthouses and facilities along the historical (starting with the Via Francigena), food and wine and cycling routes , brought under the common umbrella of Valore Paese Italia, have created a wave of involvement in terms of image and following.
In 2021, the Valore Paese Italia brand was opened to new areas and further enriched with evocative and high-impact themes such as, among others, the Case Cantoniere, Historic Railway Routes, and memory tourism, a series of real and symbolic ‘places,’ monumental or landscape-related, whose notion is crossed with that of memory and national identity. Memory tourism falls under the broader category of cultural tourism, which is a willingness to travel outside one’s area of daily experience for cultural motivations; going to enjoy cultural heritage, events, festivals, local traditional practices and more. The understanding brings together the experience of previous activities developed, referred to as network projects, and opens up to new and different developments, including listening to the country’s most current needs. A listening and developing project that could develop a new network, that of airports and waterways.
As part of Valore Paese Italia’s promotional activities, the opportunity to organize events in the territory has proved to be an important communication vehicle, to ensure maximum visibility for the initiatives put in place and to arouse interest in the media and public opinion. Italian Air Force Balloon Cup is also configured in this framework, which is proposed as an annual event that, in addition to showcasing Italian territories and coastal areas, heritage of inestimable value for our country, allows the systemization of many initiatives, in relation to the thematic networks developed and the territories involved.
A balloon flight to northern Italy is a unique experience; in fact, the northern regions offer a changing landscape ranging from the more expansive Po Valley to truly striking lakes and snow-capped mountains. Central Italy also hides places rich in charm, which can only be observed from a whole new perspective with a balloon ride. The gentle cradling of the balloon will lead us to discover the countryside of Tuscany and Lazio but also Emilia Romagna, uncovering fabulous and unforgettable views. The South also offers unmissable opportunities to have a unique experience and fly over enchanting landscapes, obviously experienced from an alternative point of view.
On December 2, 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned emperor by Pope Pius VII in Paris. And here, exactly in front of Notre Dame a balloon called the Ballon du Sacre (Ballon of Consecration), invented by Frenchman André-Jacques Garnerin, was raised. But on Dec. 16 a strong wind broke its moorings; the Ballon flew off to crash after 22 hours and 1,200 kilometers into Lake Bracciano near Anguillara Sabazia, Rome. To the general amazement, the Ballon had completed its first Paris-Rome air route.
Today, considered the oldest known aeronautical relic and the only surviving balloon, the Ballon is on display at the Italian Air Force Historical Museum (MUSAM) in Vigna di Valle, Bracciano donated by Pope Paul VI. The remains of the balloon, in fact, had been immediately given to the Pope and stored in the Vatican’s Apostolic Floreria until 1977, when the Museum was inaugurated on May 24.
Balloons are the “queens of the air,” environmentally friendly means of transportation, whose engine is the wind, that have thrilled adults and children alike since time immemorial. In free flight, once inflated they take off and land where the air currents decide, floating for an hour (or + hours if gas balloon) in the sky. A unique and unforgettable experience. Every time a balloon flies free in the sky, it captures the attention of adults and children alike, bringing with it awe and wonder.
It was November 1884 when the Ministry of War approved the establishment of an “Aeronautical Section.” The aerostat section began operating in 1885 from Fort Tiburtino in Rome, while remaining on the staff of the 3rd Engineer Regiment in Florence, initially two French-built aerostats were assigned to the section. In 1887, as a unit of the Engineer Corps, the aerostats of the “Africa Specialists Company” left for Eritrea with the Expeditionary Corps commanded by General Asinari of S. Marzano. Ascents were made near Saati Fort, to monitor the moves of Abyssinian armies under the command of Ras Alula.
In 1908 the first Italian-designed airship was completed and inflated on October 3 of that year, the day the airship “No. 1” made its first ascent.
The Libyan War represented an important experience for the nascent aeronautical activity. The Aerostatic Park (2 Draken balloons) and the Aerostatic Signaling Section participated; ascension activity began in November 1911. Until the end of the conflict the balloons made a valuable contribution to ground forces, especially in correcting artillery shots.
While aircraft activity was still in its infancy, however even though the number of missions remained rather small nevertheless aircraft also made their contribution to the conduct of operations, within the limits of what those means allowed. The pilots, however, not only carried out actions of observation and information on the enemy’s activity, but also carried out actual attacks by bombing opposing troops and positions.
The experience served, undoubtedly, to better understand, the great possibilities of using the new machines, showing that aviation was now becoming an Armed Force in its own right.
The Italian Air Force is proposed as a major player in accessing and exploiting the wide atmospheric band between the current maximum flight altitudes (about 18/20 km) and the Karman line, which delimits Space. The Armed Forces expresses natural environmental expertise through an inclusive strategy of full cooperation with the Italian Space Agency, the National Research Council, and the Italian Aerospace Research Center, just to name a few of the realities of the scientific world and academia with which it has forged excellent relationships and fruitful exchange agreements. In the international arena, moreover, the Italian Air Force researches and increases relations with key partners such as the US Air Force, the Roscosmos Agency, NASA, and friendly and allied Air Forces with which it shares a vision increasingly projected toward aerospace and innovative interfaces such as satellite airdrop, suborbital flight, stratospheric platforms, and Space Situational Awareness, as a natural upward extension of the Air Defense Command Control capability.
Space is the natural extension of the operational environment in which the Italian Air Force operates: a long tradition in the field with studies and activities that have always been at the forefront, in the field of satellites, supersonic and human flight, has led the Armed Force to be able to count among its personnel most of the Italian astronauts. Capabilities, aptitude and excellence of astronauts from the Italian Air Force are the result of the educational value of the Aeronautical Academy and training in operational departments with daily use of advanced and innovative technologies.
The Italian Air Force as an air force is by its nature bent on continuous innovation, cutting-edge experimentation and makes technology one of its strengths. Human spaceflight represents a fundamental opportunity for the aerospace dimension, making the commitment of the Armed Force a driving factor for investment and growth in the country, with scientific, technological and industrial returns for the improvement of everyday life. In June 2023, Colonel Walter Villadei participated in Virgin Galactic’s Galactic 01 suborbital flight, and in January 2024, he reached space and the International Space Station as the pilot of Axiom Mission 3. This is an epochal paradigm shift, as there have been so many throughout the century-long history of the Italian Air Force, which, with its distinctive expertise in this domain, which is a natural extension of aviation, wants to be a protagonist of this change, also acting as a stimulus for the development and success of a new model of synergy between the public and private sectors.
The History of the Armed Force in all its progressive evolutions is preserved at the Vigna di Valle Historical Museum: an itinerary full of events, feats, facts and testimonies of inestimable value that constitute eloquent proof of the daring and extreme sense of duty that our airmen have passed on from generation to generation, to the faithful and diuturnal safeguard of our country. It also preserves unique features and memorabilia. In fact, it has been called among the most beautiful and important aviation museums in the world. As mentioned, it holds the Garnerin Ball, the oldest aviation relic in the world. Its location is in the atrium, inside a large display case, precisely to give an immediate signal of the museum’s uniqueness.
