Lido di Roma

41°44'30"N 012°14'40"E

runway: n/a - water

Lido di Roma air'field' (Italian: Idroscalo Lido di Roma, also known as Idroscalo "Carlo Del Prete", Idroscalo di Ostia, or in english: Lido di Roma Hydroplane base) was an airfield in the mouth of the Tiber river 25 kilometers southwest of Rome.
The airfield was built on a dredged up part of the south bank of the river Tiber (It.: Tevere). It opened with the inaugural flight of Società Aerea Mediterranea to Cagliari on 21 April 1928, and was named after a young aviator who had died in a plane crash in earlier in 1928. The airfield served a the starting point for the Italian 'Line of the Empire' to East Africa (Ethiopia). It was also the finish line for Italo Balbo's historic Decennial Cruise to North America.


An S-55 at the Lido di Roma hydroplane base (grupponline.it).


Lido di Roma hydroplane base as seen from the east (grupponline.it).


'Carlo Del Prete' in a few years became very important to the economy of Ostia, employing hundreds of locals, who soon familiarized themselves with the sight of S-55s, which soon became a symbol of the base (grupponline.it).

After World War II the airfield fell into disuse. People from Rome then illegally began building small summer homes on and near the site. It was also the site that the murder of Italian Cineast, poet and writer Pier Paolo Pasolini took place in November 1975.
In 1994 the site became a protected habitat. Because of many protests it took until 2010 however, before the police began evicting people and demolishing their summer cottages.


Idroscalo di Ostia in 2010 (Imageshack)