Crushed by lightning.
Thus, 53-year-old industrialist Alberto Balocco, owner of the famous and renowned confectionery company, and his friend Davide Vigo died while facing the Assietta track by mountain bike, in the mountains of the Alta Val Chisone (Turin). , 55, originally from Turin and resident in Luxembourg.
It was the weather conditions and the scene that occurred to the first operators on site that led to the hypothesis of the action of lightning.
A passing motorist gave the alarm.
The bodies were on the dirt road, a few steps from each other, at the height of a hairpin bend.
The air ambulance, working in an almost prohibitive situation, managed to disembark a medical team who attempted cardiocirculatory resuscitation, but without success.
For the recovery of the bodies, given the impossibility of landing, it was necessary to have a vehicle arrived by land.
Together with the mountain rescue, the carabinieri of the Fenestrelle station were activated, while in Turin the prosecutor opened a file, entrusted to the prosecutor Francesco La Rosa, for the ritual investigations.
The Assietta road (Turin) where the accident occurred
The Assietta hill is one of the symbolic places of Piedmont: there is a battle in 1747 between the troops of the then Kingdom of Sardinia and the French;
on that occasion the 'drapò' was raised, the red and white banner with a blue horizontal strip which today is the official flag of the Region.
But it is also one of the places that mountain bikers carry in their hearts: the military road that leads to the refuge, with its curves that wind through breathtaking views, is famous throughout Europe and is credited as the highest in the Western Alps. .
The 'Balocco', known for its panettone, is based in Fossano (Cuneo).
On 2 July, at the age of 91, Aldo Balocco, honorary president, died, who in the second half of the twentieth century transformed the pastry shop founded by his father Francesco Antonio in 1927 into a giant of the confectionery industry that employs 500 employees and in 2021 it had a turnover of 200 million euros.
Today Alberto lost his life.
"We are shocked - comments the president of the Piedmont Region, Alberto Cirio - by this sudden tragedy that strikes a friend, an entrepreneur who is a symbol of our land, who has brought Piedmont to homes all over the world. family and all their loved ones ".