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The
first Italian experiment in air-mail, between Turin (Corso Francia airstrip)
and Rome (Centocelle Airport) takes place on may 22 1917; the flight takes
about four hours.
The
Società Italiana Servizi Aerei (Italian Air Services
Society), first Flight Company in Italy, based in Trieste, is born on april
the first 1926.
Taking off from the Po river "Idroscalo", the flight, served by a seaplane, connects Turin, Pavia, Venice and Trieste.
The
flight takes five hours.
The ticket is 300 lire (about 3
UK£)
Daily flights are granted.
The seaplane carries up to five passengers, that are provided cotton for their ears, a hot water bottle and a blanket.
Please do not talk with the flight personnel, don't lean out of the windows and refrain from smoking.
The Turin Idroscalo, a large hangar on pilons, is on the Po
River, by
the Isabella Bridge.Later it will double as a dancehall.
On september the first 1929 the Turin - Milan - Rome airway is opened, taking off from the Mirafiori airfield. The flight takes three hours and 45 minutes.
A direct 90 minutes Turin - Rome flight, served by FIAT planes, is created in 1936.
Rome is the main air-node in Italy, however:
On
april the seventh 1926 the Genoa - Rome - Naples - Palermo flight
is born, using the planes of the Società Anonima Navigazione
Aerea (SANA). In '29 the line is extended to include
Marseilles.
February
the first 1927 - Junkers planes belonging to the Società Anonima
Transadriatica start serving daily on the Rome - Venice
airway. In Venice a connection to Vienna is available thrice a week.
October
1928 - flights on the Rome - Milan begin, using Fokker threemotors
belonging to Avio Linee Italiane.
Novembre
1928 - SANA activates Rome - Barcelona and Rome -
Siracusa - Tripoli flights
On
december '28 Rome - Tunisi service begins, direct once a week, with
a stop in Cagliari twice a week.
Also
in '28, Imperial Airways starts using the Italian flight paths for
its Mediterranean service.
The line, served by four-motor Dornier seaplanes is
London - Genoa
Genoa - Rome
Rome - Naples
Naples -
Corfù
Corfù - Athen
Athens - Bay of Suda
Bay of Suda
- Tobruk
Tobruk - Alexandria
Between
'31 and '32 the lines for Marseilles and Barcelona are unified,
while a new seaplane service connecting Roma - Naples - Siracusa - Malta
- Tripoli
begins.In
'32, a jount agreement between ALI and German
LuftHansa opens the Rome - Milan - Munich - Berlin airway.
Other lines (served jointly with foreign companies) conect Italy to France
(Rome - Marseilles - Paris) and Czechoslovakia (Rome - Venice
- Breslaw - Prague)
Starting
in 1934, all national flight companies, with the only excepion of
ALI (belonging to FIAT) are united in the State-Owned Ala
Littoria (Lictor's Wing).
Among
the Ala Littoria services, the Imperial Airline towards
the African colonies is worth remembering:
Rome - Siracusa - Bengasi - Cairo - Wadi Halfa - Kartoum - Cassala - Asmara - Dire Daua - Addis Abeba
for a total of 6379 km, partially served by seaplanes, four times a week.
