Rivolto

11-12 September 2010

On September 11 and 12, over 400000 spectators flocked to the Italian air force base Rivolto to watch the airshow, which was organized to celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Italian national aerobatic team Frecce Tricolori during the bright summer days.

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Inevitably, the gathering of such a large crowd created huge traffic problems. Having the security checkpoints only run at half capacity did nothing to help matters, so anyone who arrived after 8AM was in for a lengthy wait. In sharp contrast with this stood the excellent organization of the bus transport to and from the parkings and a nearby train station. Some other shows would do well to read that particular page of the Italian’s book. Entrance was free, as always with Italian air force shows. The commentators of foreign display teams were assisted, at great length, by the commentator of the Frecce Tricolori.

The show ground itself was refreshingly devoid of sales stands and side animation, but sadly also of foreign aircraft and some of the more exotic Italian types. Food stands were quite sparse and organized so that any sale would involve at least 2 queues, and sometimes more depending on the order.

No large scale Italian tactical displays in the flying programme, but only the solo performances by the Reparto Sperimentale Volo, the Italian test center based at Pratica di Mare near Rome, in addition to the new M346 training aircraft and most of the biggest display teams on the European airshow circuit.

All in all, not a bad weekend’s flying, but certainly not the best show the Italians have put on in recent years. It was quite refreshing to see the focus so firmly on aircraft though, rather than animation completely unrelated to aviation.