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The event, organised by Capannori Town Council in collaboration with the Lucca Aero Club and the Folgore Parachute Brigade, and under the patronage of the Aero Club of Italy and CONI, will have ‘FEEL THE SKY’ as its central theme.
An invitation not just to look at the sky, but to feel it, experience it and discover it through all the senses. FEEL THE SKY means seeing, listening, sensing, moving, experiencing and taking part. And it is precisely on the theme of accessibility to outdoor experiences, sport and flight that the 2026 Festival of Air and Sport aims to place particular emphasis.
The event will open on Friday 4 September at 16.00, in the City Council Hall, with the conference: "Feeling the sky: women, flight and accessibility". During the conference will be presented the project “Adele Vola” by Adele Gesso, the world’s first disabled disabled wheelchair pilot, experience dedicated to the relationship between disability and the possibility of living the flight. John Aimo, hot air balloon instructor of Adele Gesso, multiple champion and awardee of the prestigious Montgolfier FAI Diploma, will also speak. Also present will be the aeronautical doctor Giuseppe Caruso, ENAC aeromedical examiner, with an intervention dedicated to aviation medicine, flight safety and accessibility.
As usual, the centrepiece of the event will be the International Balloon Gathering – City of Capannori with the participation of three Special Shape in the shape of an animal. The Director of the Event will be Commander Maurizio Viti and the Director of Specialities will be John Aimo. Both Saturday and Sunday free balloon flights will be offered both with classic basket and with accessible basket for people with disabilities.
*Flights with accessible baskets are already sold out.
Among the most anticipated appointments Saturday night at 22 will return the NIGHT GLOW: the illuminated hot air balloons will light up to the rhythm of music, transforming the area of the event into a large theatre of light, fire, colours and sounds.
Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September, from 16.00 to 20.00, Piazza Aldo Moro will become a large open-air gym. About thirty sports associations of the territory will be the protagonists of exhibitions, demonstrations and activities open to the public. The Municipal Swimming Pool of Capannori will also be involved in the event with aquatics courses for children.
New this year the performances of the Charlie Twenty Six C26 Team, protagonist with a choreographic aerial program and the Audacious Paramotorists. Among the many initiatives scheduled the IV Festival of the Kites – City of Capannori, with The Wind Gardens under the artistic direction of Cervia Volante; Pompieropoli with a great novelty: games and activities accessible by the Fire Department; the Children Point, with creative workshops dedicated to children and families; the Labollatory, conducted by Manuela Barbi, dedicated to the world of soap bubbles; the circus workshop conducted by Enrico Pellegri i laboratori di aeromodellismo
There will also be the Food & Mercatale Area, with flavours of the territory, creatives, local artists and works of ingenuity. Also scheduled are the musical evenings that will accompany the audience until late in the evening. Saturday starting at 21 the performance of the group dances of DAISY DANCE and Dj- Set with Edoardo Diciotti to arrive at 23 with the Balla Italia.
Sunday night Music 70's, '80, '90 with ' Take me to dance '.
Finally, the Festival of Air and Sport will also host the Photographic Exhibition "Traveling in the air" by the Compitese Photographic Group.
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