The terrible accident yesterday in which a cable snapped on the Stresa to Mottarone cable car plunging fourteen of its fifteen occupants to their death reminds me that as a child I, too, visited the Mottarone which offers the most expansive views over the Lago Maggiore. At that time, however, we caught the rack-and-pinion railway, dating back to 1911 and which was still operating. Built on the same principles as the Snowdon mountain railway it took a little over an hour to reach the summit station as distinct from the twenty minutes of the cable-car which replaced it in the 1960’s.
I have found this old photo my Milan uncle’s family, who took me there, sent from the Mottarone which is a popular day trip destination for the Milanese.
One of my wife’s relatives, who lives near the mountain at Gravellona Toce, told me today how sad he felt that that the train was no longer there. If it had continued to run what a fantastic tourist attraction it would have been and certainly so much safer too! Furthermore, there are two roads to the top of the mountain, one of which is a toll road as it runs through the land still belonging to the aristocratic Borromeo family. When we visit the mountain again we shall go by car…
Where does Mottarone get its name? As a child I always thought the outline of the 4895 foot high mountain had something to do with the famous panettone or festival fruit cake manufactured by Motta as both have a round, cupola-like shape. Nevertheless, the name derives from ‘Monte Rotondo’ as pronounced in Milanese dialect which means ‘round mountain’. So I wasn’t too far out.
Why did this awful tragedy happen? The whole world is sadly accident–prone and it seems to me that Italy is especially so. In the time that I’ve lived here the dreadful Viareggio train crash happened when a goods train carrying highly inflammable gas created a fire which spread to a nearby neighbourhood killing thirty two people. Then there was the infamous ‘Costa Concordia’ cruise ship sinking with thirty two victims. In 2016 the Ponte Morandi viaduct across Genoa collapsed taking with it forty three victims. And so on and on….
When we get onto environmental disasters then just citing earthquakes there was the Aquila earthquake of 2009 with over three hundred dead and the Amatrice-centred one of 2016 with even more victims. Landslides in such a geologically fragile country like Italy occur regularly carrying whole villages and many of their inhabitants. I thank the Deity I’m still here to start every new day in our mountain village not just because my health has resisted (so far) but because our village has not been buried by collapsing hills or flooded by the surrounding streams like that of Celle in nearby San Cassiano
In the Mottarone case investigations have already begun. I believe that the findings will concentrate very much on the maintenance of the structure. In this respect so many features and installations have been closed to the public because of Covid-19 that their disuse may create hidden problems for if something hasn’t been used for some time then by definition regular maintenance is that much more questionable. I just wonder how many other installations may be subject to the same complications.
I am always a little scared when taking cable cars anywhere whether it is the one to the pistes above Cutigliano or the London cable car (The ‘Emirates Airline’) over the Thames docklands. Meanwhile our hearts go out to the families of the victims and the brave young single survivor.