spotting in italy

[Felipe]

Hi there,

Cause i'm going for a sun vacantion to italy his summer, i was wondering if anyone could tell me what can be seen in the region around brescia. Ghedi is not far away, but maybe a museum or some wrecks & relics??

And how does the italian government thinks about the "spotting thing".

I hope to hear some usefull things!!

Thanx in advance..

Greetz Jan.

[Stefan]

Hi Jan,

One a/c (near Brescia) is listed here:
http://www.scramble.nl/wiki/index.php?t ... li_Kennedy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Don't know what you call 'in the region around Brescia' but more are here:
http://www.scramble.nl/wiki/index.php?t ... and_Relics" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Please feel free to add all information you gather while present to our wiki!

And, we still have our EMOOS 2007 in our shop off course (http://www.scramble.nl/shop.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

Greetings,
Stefan

[biesenbeek]

Hiya Jan et all,

thus far in my spotting'carreer' on two occasions ppl in uniform have been waving around guns in my face, perceiving me as a potential threat. Both occasions were in Italy.

The first time i was kicked out of FCO (rome) after four patrolcars cornered us (quite the achievement since we were reading books at the time, not a very mobile activity) and instead of asking us what we were doing, we were escorted at gunpoint. This was quite a few years back though.

On my last visit to Italy i visited Milan-Malpense were we sat down in the grass next to a taxiway (on the landside of the fence BTW), and two guys in plain clothes jumped out of an unmarked car pointing guns at us. They turned out to be with some sort of police organisation, and in the end decided not to send us away.

In general my perception is that all major airports in Italy seem to be a host to at least four different policeservices, all with their different uniforms. It seems to be some government sponsored employment scheme, since on the weekends at least two of these police services seem to dissappear Most of these people stand around all day doing nothing usefull (at least in my view), so they have plenty of time to bother you. Italians in uniform usually think themselves divine (much like the pope, come to think of it, who i know is a german nowadays, but he lives near right), so explaining what you are doing is usually not much help. Their understanding of english is in most cases below that of a smart four-year-old, and the idea watching airplanes is fun is totally unthinkable for these ppl.

My advise: avoid italy whenever possible. Since you are going there anyway: take a very low profile, and be prepared to be send away if they find you anyway.

I suppose others have more positive experiences, these are just my two cents. To put things in a bit of perspective, my least favourite countries i visited are (in a very distinct order): Malysia, France and Italy ;0)

Hope you live to tell the tale,

Rene

[Stefan]

My advise: avoid italy whenever possible. Since you are going there anyway: take a very low profile, and be prepared to be send away if they find you anyway.

I suppose others have more positive experiences, these are just my two cents. To put things in a bit of perspective, my least favourite countries i visited are (in a very distinct order): Malysia, France and Italy ;0)

Can't relate to this experience at all.. been there several times (and visited quite a number of bases from the outside) and can not recall any serious problems.. Guess it depends on the situation and the people you meet. Camera's might make them more 'trigger-happy' though.

Greetings,
Stefan
PS Had a great time in Malaysia as well... and France...

[nilsko]

I can relate partly to the story of Rene (biesenbeek) as far as uniformed authorities go and there lack of English. I only had trouble around Grossetto where we were asked to not take pictures and were actually being in the approach was no problem.
No issues around Pisa, Viterbo, Grazzanise, Capua, Latina and Roma-Ciampino. Although mostly were hit-and-run actions.

Ghedi is a tough one. I heard of people being sent away there pretty quick. But there should be spotrs where you are out of sight of the base.

[Le Addeur noir]

Spotting in Italy IS potentially dangerous.

Roma Ciampino is one place where discression is well advised.

Most bases should be OK if you are careful,but you have to watch out for potential intervention from the Carabinerei or Polizia at all times.

Best to sit away from bases if you want to watch flying over an extended period.

Civil airports are worse than military bases to spot at due to threats from Al-Qaida,etc.this includes airside areas.