Virtual Sestri Levante
Please note: finding something true in this
page is hardly possible.
This rare photo dating around 1915-1916 shows an Austro-Hungarian dirigible brought over Sestri by the winds.
These baloons were used over the Italian-Austrian border to observe the movements of the troops, but sometimes they could not go back to their bases due to strong streams.
In such circumstances the Austrian crews kept flying until they could get away from the front line, in order to land among civilian untouched by the war and possibly less hostile.
The crew of the dirigibile here photographed was rescued by fishermen in the waters of Punta Manara.
At the beginning of the First World War there were a few of these episodes, but in the following years airplanes and flack put an end to the age of dirigibles.
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In the first years of the Nineteenth century
Sestri Levante was still an island, as it is visible in these
ancient photos.
Among many theories and legend about the origins of the isthmus, one is particularly fascinating.
This story tells that in the past the traditional "leudi" and other boats sailing along the Ligurian coast used to pass Sestri by the channel, rather than circumnavigating the island.
Obviously in the channel the sea was not very deep, and sometimes the biggest boats, with captains not familiar with Sestri's sea, got stuck. In this case the crew threw overboard the ballast, usually sand and rocks, to make the boat lighter and avoid further damages.
In time the repetition of these events and the shipwreck of some vessel made it impossible to sail in the channel.
At this point the people from Sestri, without any concern for the beauty of the landscape, decided to unify forever their beautiful island to the mainland.
In the following years the occasional floodings of the isthmus due to seastorms or heavy rains caused the bitter remarks of those who had questioned this decision.
Among many theories and legend about the origins of the isthmus, one is particularly fascinating.
This story tells that in the past the traditional "leudi" and other boats sailing along the Ligurian coast used to pass Sestri by the channel, rather than circumnavigating the island.
Obviously in the channel the sea was not very deep, and sometimes the biggest boats, with captains not familiar with Sestri's sea, got stuck. In this case the crew threw overboard the ballast, usually sand and rocks, to make the boat lighter and avoid further damages.
In time the repetition of these events and the shipwreck of some vessel made it impossible to sail in the channel.
At this point the people from Sestri, without any concern for the beauty of the landscape, decided to unify forever their beautiful island to the mainland.
In the following years the occasional floodings of the isthmus due to seastorms or heavy rains caused the bitter remarks of those who had questioned this decision.
This rare photo dating around 1915-1916 shows an Austro-Hungarian dirigible brought over Sestri by the winds.
These baloons were used over the Italian-Austrian border to observe the movements of the troops, but sometimes they could not go back to their bases due to strong streams.
In such circumstances the Austrian crews kept flying until they could get away from the front line, in order to land among civilian untouched by the war and possibly less hostile.
The crew of the dirigibile here photographed was rescued by fishermen in the waters of Punta Manara.
At the beginning of the First World War there were a few of these episodes, but in the following years airplanes and flack put an end to the age of dirigibles.