My husband and I rented a car for 2+ weeks in order to visit a few parts of Italy that we don’t know well. We’d been to Puglia before, but only briefly: a post-ferry-from-Dubrovnik night in Bari and a few days in Monopoli. This time we spent three days in Polignano a Mare and another three in Lecce, and we also drove around exploring other villages and interesting places.

On our way to Pietrapertosa, uno dei Borghi più belli d’Italia, we noticed a couple of cables stretched over a deep ravine between two mountaintops. Intrigued, we found a place to pull over and take a few photos. At first, my husband theorized that this was a way to string power lines between remote villages. But then we saw pods speeding along the lines – and heard screaming. My husband exclaimed, “Those are people!” and we realized it was some sort of next generation zipline.

Newly energized, we jumped back in the car and continued to Pietrapertosa, where we learned all about Volo dell’Angelo, The Angel’s Flight. It was a little after noon, so we had to wait a couple of hours for the attraction to reopen, during which we had a nice lunch.*

Then we bought our tickets, I dressed – despite the heat – in sweats and a long-sleeved shirt (my skirt and tank top were both deemed unacceptable since the harness can cause severe skin irritation), and flew (like angels) from Pietrapertosa to Castelmezzano and then back again. Awesome!

The Takeoff

The Landing

* In retrospect, this was a bad move, as we both felt ill during the first 30 seconds or so after takeoff.