Welcome

FIVL, the Italian Hang Gliding, Paragliding and Kite Association, warmly welcomes you to these pages.

This is a place of never ending passion: flight in its simplest, purest and most accessible form. FIVL was established in 1976 as a hang gliding community, joined later by paragliding and kiting, and it has been closely involved in writing the history of this sport ever since.

Free flying is more than a sport. It is a philosophy, an art and a way of life, and it still has to be redeemed from the prejudices that surround it and hold back how widely it is practised. What we look for is an awareness of flight as a means towards a more intimate understanding of the human soul, undertaken with discipline, consciousness and self-control.

Our practice is in harmony with the environment: free flight pollutes nothing, makes no noise and leaves the places it happens in as it found them.

There are many ways of going about it. Some pilots take their pleasure in a straight descent late in the afternoon, when the light changes every perception and sensation. Today's safer gliders give the pilot the control, the freedom and the calm to enjoy a bird's eye view of the landscapes this country has to offer, with that dreamlike feeling of rising in broad spirals on wings lighter than air. The emotions grow with it, and so does the satisfaction of reaching what you set out to reach.

One of the most important conditions for flying safely is keeping the brain switched on. There is no restriction of age or social condition: we are not, and we will never be, special people. We are simply passionate, and proud to be pilots.

So come flying with us. What are you waiting for?

The FIVL Council

Information for foreign pilots flying in Italy

• FIVL for foreigners: the insurance the law requires, and the policy FIVL offers if yours does not cover you here.
• Guidance for HG and PG pilots: how sites work in Italy and who to contact before you travel.
• Airspace restrictions: where you may not fly.
• Main principles of the law: responsibility, flying conditions, separation and priority.