Menu Sign In Contact FAQ
Banner
Welcome to our forums

Flying in Italy

Peter,
You suggested last year that anyone flying or landing in Italy must want their heads looked at.
Do you still feel the same way?

I am planning a trip to Hotel Eremo della Giubiliana (Sicily) in the spring.
Do any of your contributors have any experience of this hotel and airfield?

There are of course plenty of reports by plenty of pilots of successful trips to Italy.

Sorry to have no info about the a/d and hotel you mention, Sicily is too hot for me. But perusing the internet and applying my limited knowledge of Italian, I gather the aerodrome is very much ok and so is the hotel too, but it looks like alarmingly expensive. I seem to understand there are cottages for rent at the airfield, aiming specifically at visitor pilots.

Last Edited by at 10 Dec 19:45
EBZH Kiewit, Belgium

quatrelle,

my last (and so far only) visit to Eremo della Giubiliana was in 2007, so that’s a few years ago. However, I occasionally get updates from people who went there.

As you can see from the official information, the airport is 680 metres and asphalt. What you don’t see from the data is that it is a bit tricky, due to the terrain rising towards the north in combination with unique winds and turbulence.

When I was there in 2007, the owner/operator (Mr. Mancini) was very restrictive in terms of granting PPR to visiting pilots. This in turn was a consequence of a couple of deadly accidents that had happened just the year before. The best known one was the crash of a Mooney Eagle operated by the aeroclub of Zürich. (That one was clearly a stupid pilot error, but nevertheless).

As far as I understand, the situation is now a little bit more relaxed, so if you fly something that has a reasonably low stall speed, it should be possible to get approval.

Finally, let me tell you that I was not super-thrilled with the overall experience. Yes, it’s a very nice structure and has quite a bit of heritage, but it is also very expensive. I feel that you get much better deals at many other “avioresorts” in Italy. See here to get an overview.

Finally, if you happen to go, make sure have the latest aeronautical charts for Sicily. In the end of May of this year, the airspace structure in that area changed quite a bit as a consequence of the opening of Comiso (LICB) airport. BTW, Comiso might be a good alternative for you if you shy away from Eremo’s runway or if you are unlucky with your PPR. It’s very close to the Eremo, has rental cars. Avgas, etc.

Some more information on flying in Sicily here.

Last Edited by boscomantico at 10 Dec 20:36
Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

Philipp, thanks for info. What you said about the runway is confirmed by http://www.avioportolano.it/aviosearch.php?sigla=RG03-6#

Precauzioni att./dec.: evitare l’uso della pista durante le ore calde del periodo estivo

Which yours truly translates as

< jan >

Warning arr./dep. : avoid using the runway during the warm hours of the summer time
< /jan >

[[edit: replaced “summer period” by “summer time”, you never know whom you offend these days]]

Last Edited by at 10 Dec 21:25
EBZH Kiewit, Belgium

Jan and Boscomantico, many thanks for your very helpful replies. Q

You suggested last year that anyone flying or landing in Italy must want their heads looked at. Do you still feel the same way?

I don’t think I ever said anything like that (as a straight isolated statement)

I am no better at searching EuroGA than anybody else but I might have said that anybody flying to Italy when they had their “hit the foreigners for €3000 in tax after X days” (where X started at some very low number and later increased to 45 days, IIRC) would be crazy. Even if you did not intend to stay for 45+ days, what if the plane had mechanical problems? The only solution would be to take it to an Italian maintenance shop… which could be an interesting experience in more ways than one, especially if you are N-reg and, hey ho, they can’t find an A&P…

One can certainly disagree with that POV – it’s a matter of attitude to risk – but I was not going to risk my ~150k plane in that way – I am not a renter so can’t walk away from it and I enjoy flying too much. Apparently, the foreign gin palace owners owners felt the same way and re-parked their boats in France and Slovenia/Croatia…

With negligible publicity (I am in contact with a large number of European pilots and none of them were aware of it) X was eventually increased to (I believe) 6 months, which is more reasonable. There are reassuring noises that they would not touch non-Italian citizens but again I would not risk that one.

I did have some odd experiences down there but really they are no more than manifestations of what one might call the reduced level of corporate transparency in southern Europe

Italy does have some specific issues with avgas sales – I am sure boscomatico can fill in the details but the various explanations I have from Italian pilots tend to be along the lines that the aeroclubs operate under some kind of tax concession which prohibits them from selling avgas to visitors. Unfortunately various pilot guides have listed some of these as having avgas (which is technically true, but useless). So I would check in advance that they have avgas and will sell it to you.

Probably, I suffer more than many pilots because (apart from poor Czech) I can’t speak anything but English, and in S. Europe Italy and Spain are perhaps the countries where English is least spoken. This makes it difficult to “work stuff out” when you are on the ground, and it makes it more difficult to check out the exact airport requirements with a phone call or email. In places like former Yugoslavia and Greece, it’s dead easy – anybody anywhere near aviation, and most people younger than 100, speak English.

I know pilots who fly regularly to Italy and who fly to the large airports, where there is mandatory handling, and – as is customary in aviation – the handler sorts everything out, and then you have a very smooth experience. The handlers speak English (obviously) and communicate instantly (comms=€€€). For example my trip to Caglieri (Sardinia) went totally smoothly. The airport did harrass me for months afterwards for some bizzare declaration that it was not a commercial flight – no idea why. I did not land in Italy after that because of that foreigner tax so have nothing recent to report.

What are now the best VFR charts for Italy? The Jepp 500k ones? I used to fly with those when I was going there VFR. The current editions are 2013 and there will be no more after that.

Last Edited by Peter at 10 Dec 22:26
Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I did not land in Italy after that because of that foreigner tax so have nothing recent to report.

But this is not Italy, it is Sardinia. They have had this luxury tax thing since many years. Simply don’t fly there or fly with someone who pays for the bills :-)

My general experience of flying in Italy is very favorable (but I’m sort of biased as I had the luck of growing up in this beautiful country – and speaking the language certainly helps getting things going) unless you depend on AVGAS. If you need AVGAS, you have to plan your trip very carefully indeed. VFR is restricted in some parts, but I have flown VFR from Innsbruck to Venice or from Zurich to Milan which is straightforward. I have performed sightseeing flights from Milan (Malpensa) around the Matterhorn (Cervino in italian) and back – VFR, no problem at all. Flying IFR, Italy is no different from any other European country.

EDDS - Stuttgart

The Sardinia luxury tax is a separate thing from the “foreigner tax”.

The notes in my 2010 writeup suggest it was finished by 2010 – see under “Checking out the airports”.

The actual money paid at Caglieri LIEE was not much at all – €50. No sign of any special tax then.

Last Edited by Peter at 10 Dec 22:38
Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I flew many times in Italy, never had a problem, always had smiles. Only the Mafia guys at Regio Kalabria were not very friendly but this is another story. First rule in Italy is to have tanks full of fuel, the second is to make sure that if you fly somewhere you have enough fuel to fly out of there into an airfield that you KNOW that it has fuel, be aware that some airfields will take cash only, no cards or anything else! You will find out that you have to fill a landing form at every airfield declaring the date your insurance started, when you CoE starts/ends etc. Don’t worry about the details, no one cares, just write OK at each line. The form will go into the top draw. When you are back, it will be pulled out, signed by you and the airfield guy and be filled at the bottom draw. One thing that you MUST be aware is the terrain, ATC night instruct you to fly at 1500’ QNH while the mountains are 3000’, don’t be shy to tell them that you can’t do it due to safety, they will not argue and will clear you to a safe level, however, make sure that you are supported by say MSA printed on the map.

Few years ago I wanted to fly to this hotel but was advised by an Italian friend who went there no to do it due to obstacles and a stone wall that is located very close to the runway and some limiting terrain.

Italy is a great place to fly, great people to be with, great food and pretty women. What else do one need?

Have fun

Ben

Thanks Ben, I havnt flown into Italy for maybe 7 years (last place Oristano) and were worried about the horror stories etc.,

and as you say…..great people to be with, great food and pretty women. What else do one need?

Am looking forward to the trip already! Q

124 Posts
Sign in to add your message

Back to Top