nose up. Not seeing the imposing skyscrapers of that Milan “where everything is clear, clear and apparent”. But to watch the feat Andrea Loreni, the only Italian tightrope walker specialized in walking at height, took place between the buildings of Gae Aulenti yesterday, May 26th. Using a 20mm diameter Dyneema rope suspended 140 meters above the ground and a balance bar, the tightrope walker covered a distance of 205 meters to climb from the Bosco Verticale to the Unicredit Tower, the tallest building in the world. Italy. Andrea prepared for this journey by embracing the fear of failure. “Be scared,” he tells Open. “It’s part of my journey: having something and being in that fear, seeing what happens, seeing where it takes you.” He’s not interested in fighting winning it. Beyond that, however, there is a whole other world. “Sometimes there is a nice sense of freedom, wideness and space. And you, it’s not that you’re in this space, you are the space,” she admits. The first step on the tightrope was obviously the most important. “It’s that moment when you have to decide to get going and leave the familiar terrain behind.” But the preparation was no different. Thinking about the crossing before doing it “was a very complex phase because that’s when, he says, problems arise.” In that “there” “I start, all the worries, all the negative thoughts, the things , which could go wrong, to pack in, and at that moment it’s difficult to go on, to go on and then to make the enterprise happen.” But on the rope, so many meters up, it’s the body that is the focus, “because”, he tells us, “It’s my feet that carry me to the other side.” The head usually takes us somewhere other than where we are: past, future, regret, remorse. So the head counts when it becomes an obstacle that somehow needs to be removed, or rather, not listened to.” Loreni, with a long white beard and sky-blue eyes, opened the second edition of Bam Circus – the festival of wonders in the Park conceived and directed by Francesca Colombo, cultural director of Bam -, a project of the Riccardo Catella Foundation. An international festival that brings street theater and contemporary circus arts to the city for three days and is “about the miracle,” says the tightrope walker. “That’s why I liked the idea of finding something surprising and wonderful in a space that is only apparent.” A place – he explains – where everything is visible. Millions and millions of people have seen this square, but not everyone has seen this street. So here, in the midst of familiar territory and a seemingly obvious sky, there’s still an opportunity to go and explore, to marvel.” And it did.
Cover photo: Bam Circus/Dimitar Harizano
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