A self-trained Italian blacksmith built himself an amusement park | Hacker News Reader

A self-trained Italian blacksmith built himself an amusement park

atlasobscura.com

167 pointsabrax314141 comments

Been there just last weekend. It is an amazing experience. For an engineer mind is an incredible masterpiece. Getting (the creator) is always there supervising the maintenance of its creations.

They are a little bit hard to operate but the feeling of enjoying a ride that has been propelled by your own legs is terrific.

I cannot suggest enough to pay the place a visit. Also do absolutely eat there, the price is right and the quality is incredibly high for the type of food.

/Getting/Ferrin/

Reminds me of MIT, ~15 years ago. For dorm rush, when incoming freshman walk around campus and decide where they want to live, undergrads at my dorm, East Campus, would build out some neat, full-size wooden roller coasters. I never personally rode one, but I was always super impressed by them! They weren't quite as intense as the photos in the article here, but were still pretty big and seemed to get to a decent speed.

That said, looking back now, I'm kind of shocked the administration let them get away with it! I wonder if anything is still going on like that now? Sadly, I kind of doubt it would even be allowed, for liability reasons. But I also wonder if East Campus even kept up with it otherwise. It strikes me as the kind of thing that would have been instituted by someone or some group of people (some kids on Second West, IIRC) because some people are just like that, which could then maybe keep up by cultural inertia for a time once the founders move on, but which would ultimately stop on its own.

> Sadly, I kind of doubt it would even be allowed, for liability reasons

Then maybe we need less liability laws? If I want to risk my life in a fun ride, and I'm ready to sign whatever waiver, I should be free to do that.

This could be a small step to help make universities fun again.

You need to reform health insurance first. That's a lot of what drives the liability claims.

The proximal cause of liability claims is breaking one’s neck on a roller coaster made by an undergrad. :-)

Easy to test, are unqualified people able to build a massive wooden rollercoaster on university grounds in (insert healthcare utopia here) without university admin getting itchy?

Looks like it stopped for a bit, then came back in the mid-2010s (see another Atlas Obscura link[0]) and the last mention I find is for 2019.

0: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/fleeting-wonders-those...

For almost 100 years, Texas A&M created MASSIVE bonfires prior to their game against archrival University of Texas. The bonfires became bigger and bigger each year.

In 1999, 70 students at a time set up more than 5,000 logs.

On November 18, 1999, the stack was 59 feet high.

You should all see where this is going....

The stack collapsed.

Cranes were brought in. The process was slow - a wrong move...further collapse and students were under the logs.

12 kids died, 27 injured.

So there ya go.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggie_Bonfire

Better pictures here: https://www.aipioppi.com/it/parco-giochi/

Ironically, his last name is "Ferrin". In italian, "Ferro" translates to "Iron".

Appropriately.

Not ironic, just nominative determinism.

But it's more fun to say irony when the topic is iron

Sure, but ironically sounds a whole lot better than nominative deterministically.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptronym

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism

Wow, I never thought I Pioppi could made to HN (I live near there).

I live in Venice, not too far either :)

I lived in Venice (Mestre, actually, but born in Venice) and knew what the article was about without even clicking :)

Oh, wow, from the headline I was expecting horrifying, not uplifting.

Specifically, I was thinking along these lines: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Park

There is an interesting audiobook about the place by the founders son (who worked there). It’s obviously biased, but does not turn a blind eye to all of the issues, I found it pretty interesting and certainly a fascinating story:

https://www.audible.com/pd?asin=0593214315&source_code=ASSOR...

Similarly I had just read this thread summary about a person asking how to fix a zipline that had been built without any engineer input. They'd only calculated after spending $40,000 and building two massive platforms that it would probably kill anyone who rode it.

https://web.archive.org/web/20180102002811/http://forums.hip...

The OP article took a different turn when I got to the part where it said a government-approved engineer checks his rides (what the people in the thread I linked definitely didn't do).

I just want to know how he deals with the safety design and legal liability aspect.

Not every country has yet fully gone the legal route.

At the same time, Italy is one of those southern countries with many rules where nothing is possible yet everything is possible at the same time (if you know the right people :))

in the past sometimes the fire brigade has suspended one or more of the attractions, but since no one was ever hurt somehow they managed to fix them (both legally and as safety)

plus we are in italy, we are masters of (also) high precision mechanics

[the first person who responds to me with a joke about "Fiat" gets a slap]

You never heard of "Osteria senza oste" story in Valdobbiadene, then...

Never heard of it, and can't seem to find it either. Got a link?

https://www.osteriasenzoste.it/

https://www.tripadvisor.it/Attraction_Review-g666331-d199722...

it is basically a bar without waiters or owners, the name literally mean "the bar without the innkeeper"

However, now it is more mainstream than it used to be, it used to be really a secret place

mmh serene comrade here we are revealing a little too much ;)

From the article:

His seemingly natural talent for construction is assessed each year by a government-hired engineer who checks the safety of each ride.

Interestingly:

> Over the past 50 years friends have suggested the introduction of a fee, even a symbolic charge of a euro or two.

> He resists. “Today everything seems to have a price,” he says. “I want people to come here, have a bite, enjoy the fresh air and play.”

Depending upon the signage and the law in Italy this may be a "at your informed risk" venture given the lack of fee or profit.

If any, this article would have deserved a short video showing the attractions in motion, I don't think the images give a great impression.

Tom Scott did a video on it that's sufficiently visualizing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCQEc736GO4

Thanks, that is impressive! The amount of squeaking is horrible though :p

In Italian, but somewhat comprehensive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTQaJTZDcII

There is an amusement park built by a Russian guy Yuri here, a formal TV interview plus several videos of it in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLUiY-TAgoA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mIM-wZiBck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEmcvHLBL4I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-WZ4IAZoTU

Probably not as impressive as OP, but it's still something built by one man alone.

This man literally plays Rollercoaster Tycoon in real life. What an absolute legend!

I really admire (and envy!) people like this, they have a great passion for something, and they build it to enrich the world without selfishness and agenda.

This is the first thing I've seen on Atlas Obscura that is actually obscure. But I suspect it wont be for long

I used to go there thirty years ago when I still lived in the area. Great place to have fun.

there is also good food, if one is a lover of festival ("sagra") food

The iron version of PiPi’s Splashtown

Reply on news.ycombinator.com