The Stresa-Alpino-Mottarone Cable Car (Italian: ''Funivia Stresa-Alpino-Mottarone'') is an

aerial tramway An aerial tramway, aerial tram, sky tram, cable car or aerial cablecar, aerial cableway, ropeway, téléphérique (French), or Seilbahn (German) is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary cables for support, with a third movin ...

cable transport Cable transport is a broad class of transport modes that have cables. They transport passengers and goods, often in vehicles called cable cars. The cable may be driven or passive, and items may be moved by pulling, sliding, sailing, or by driv ...

located in the commune of

Stresa Stresa is a ''comune'' (municipality) of about 4,600 residents on the shores of Lake Maggiore in the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, in the Italian region of Piedmont. about northwest of Milan. It is situated on road and rail routes to the Sim ...

in the

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

region of

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. First opened in 1970, the aerial tramway connects Stresa, located on the shores of

Lake Maggiore Lake Maggiore (, ; ; ; ; literally 'greater lake') or Verbano (; ) is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest lake in Italy and the largest in southern Switzerland. The lake and its shoreline are divided be ...

, to the summit of the Mottarone mountain. The Stresa-Alpino-Mottarone Cable Car transported approximately 100,000 passengers per year, prior to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Italy The COVID-19 pandemic in Italy was part of the COVID-19 pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Italy on 31 January 2 ...

. The aerial tramway was a major regional tourist attraction until the Stresa-Mottarone cable car disaster on 23 May 2021.

Route

The Stresa–Alpino–Mottarone Cable Car begins at the Lido di Carciano piazza on the shores of

in Stresa. The tramway then ascends approximately to the village of Alpino, where an intermediate cable car station and the adjacent Giardino Botanico Alpinia are located. The second half of the Stresa–Alpino–Mottarone Cable Car continues from Alpino to a station just below the summit of Mottarone, a mountain peak in the

Western Alps The Western Alps are the western part of the Alps, Alpine Range including the southeastern part of France (e.g. Savoie), the whole of Monaco, the northwestern part of Italy (i.e. Piedmont and the Aosta Valley) and the southwestern part of Switzer ...

. From the Mottarone, passengers can board a short chair lift ride to the mountaintop. Without stops, the trip from Lido di Carciano at Lake Maggiore to the top of Mottarone takes about twenty minutes and rises 1385 metres.

History

The Stresa-Alpino-Mottarone Cable Car was opened to the public on 1 August 1970, following three years of construction. The aerial tramway replaced the historic Ferrovia Stresa-Mottarone, which operated from 1912 until its closure on 13 May 1963. The cable car system had undergone a 4.4 million euro renovation and general overhaul between 2014 and 2016. New control panels, engines and passenger cabins were installed at the time. The renovations were funded jointly by the

ese regional government and the town of

. The cable car was closed for construction work in 2014 and reopened on 13 August 2016. Each of the Stresa–Alpino–Mottarone's stations were also renovated between October 2016 and December 2016. The number of passengers in each cable car was limited to 40 or less during the

Accidents

Prior to 2021, the Stresa-Alpino-Mottarone Cable Car system had not experienced any serious accidents during its first 50 years of service. There had been three minor incidents when passengers had to be evacuated from the cable cars due to cable entanglements, but there had been no injuries at the time. On 23 May 2021, during a scheduled trip, the Stresa-Alpino-Mottarone Cable Car crashed to the ground after the traction or haulage cable snapped about from the summit of the mountain Mottarone, killing fourteen people.

References

External links

Stresa–Alpino–Mottarone official site
(Italian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Stresa-Alpino-Mottarone Cable Car Cable cars in Italy Transport infrastructure completed in 1970 Transport in Piedmont Tourist attractions in Piedmont Stresa