Curated Itinerary
The Route of the Decennial Air Cruise — Orbetello, Chicago, New York (1933)
This is not a route anyone can drive. Between 1930 and 1933 Italian seaplanes crossed the Atlantic in formation, and what remains of those flights are three sites on two continents. The Idroscalo di Orbetello is the Tuscan lagoon base the squadrons trained at and left from — for Rio in 1930, for Chicago in 1933. On the Chicago lakefront, in Burnham Park, stands an ancient Roman column taken from Ostia and sent by Mussolini’s government in 1934 to commemorate the 1933 flight; it has been contested ever since. In New York, the Palazzo d’Italia opened at Rockefeller Center in 1935 as official Italy’s showcase on Fifth Avenue: Piccirilli’s fascist-flavoured glass panel there was boarded over days after Pearl Harbor and replaced in 1965. Three surviving places, and three different ways a country has handled the same memory.
Take this route into Google Maps
From Idroscalo di Orbetello — Base of the Atlantic Squadrons to Palazzo d’Italia, Rockefeller Center, New York, in the order we curated them.
➤ Open the stops in Google MapsThese places are spread over thousands of kilometres, and Google will not always join them into one route. It opens with the stops loaded in our order: from there pick two that are close to each other, choose how you travel, and add places of your own. For a single leg, the directions on each stop's own page work better.
Three surviving sites of the Atlantic formation flights of 1930–1933, from the Tuscan lagoon where the fleets trained and departed to the contested Roman column on the Chicago lakefront and official Italy’s showcase on Fifth Avenue. Read the full story in the dedicated article The Atlantic Squadrons: Orbetello, Rio, Chicago and the Formation Flights of 1930–1933.
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Idroscalo di Orbetello — Base of the Atlantic Squadrons
The Tuscan lagoon base from which Balbo's formations left for Rio in 1930 and Chicago in 1933.
Balbo Column, Burnham Park, Chicago
An ancient Roman column from Ostia on Chicago's lakefront, sent by Mussolini's government in 1934 to commemorate the 1933 formation flight.
Palazzo d’Italia, Rockefeller Center, New York
The Italian wing of Rockefeller Center (1935): Piccirilli's fascist-flavoured glass panel was boarded over days after Pearl Harbor and replaced in 1965…
Download for tour navigation
🔒 The walk and the notes are open to everyone on this page. The files to take with you — the stop list as a PDF, and the GPX and KML tracks for your phone — come with a CHO account, and the free one includes them.
Walk it with the navigator on
These places are spread over thousands of kilometres, and Google will not always join them into one route. It opens with the stops loaded in our order: from there pick two that are close to each other, choose how you travel, and add places of your own. For a single leg, the directions on each stop's own page work better.