WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS ROADS, ITALY
It’s the first episode of the new season of World’s Most Dangerous Roads. The series where brave comedy stars and celebrities tackle some of the most treacherous terrain in breathtakingly beautiful and remote parts of the world. In this episode, Rhod Gilbert and friend and fellow comedian Angela Barnes cross Italy’s most treacherous Alpine roads in Rhod’s first adventure since being treated for cancer.
“The producers were looking for a route that would take them from comfortable luxury to remote and scary mountains,” recalls Fabio Di Segni, the Location Producer for the show. The route that Fabio researched and presented to the production team starts in the pretty seaside town of San Remo on the Ligurian riviera. The stars, Angela Barnes and Rhod Gilbert, stay in the gorgeous 5-star Miramar hotel. Thanks to Fabio who negotiated great rates, the crew stayed there too!
The luxury doesn’t last long as the 7-vehicle convoy heads out for the Alpi Marittime of Liguria and Piedmont. Two vintage Defenders were found by Fabio as the picture cars, together with 4 support vehicles for the crew and a seventh vehicle driven by an Alpine Paramedic to be on hand for emergencies. The vehicles were all driven by specialized drivers who could double up as mechanics if need be. The only exception was the show’s stars, Rhod and Angela who had to face the increasingly steep and rugged roads driving their own vehicle up into the Alps.
Along the way, they drove on the Via del Sale, an ancient track used to transport salt over the centuries between France and Italy. Normally closed to cars, Fabio had negotiated with the local authorities to open it up to the cast and crew. Then there were military roads flanked by German bunkers, left over from the two world wars.
Probably one of the most hair-raising stretches was a tunnel, barely wider and higher than the cars themselves. Single track, pitch black because there was no lighting, no proper surface, just the chiseled rock and one passing place. Due to a bend in the tunnel, when they switched off their headlights momentarily it was completely dark with no sight of the end of the tunnel. As luck would have it, they arrived at the tunnel in a thunderstorm, making the whole experience very much more dramatic. As the road climbs steadily, they pass into snow even though it’s June. And that’s where they finish: on a snowbound mountain top with the only way down being to retrace their steps.
Fabio had researched some activities along the way to take the stars’ minds off the challenge ahead. There was the Tibetan Bridge, a suspended bridge high up above a gorge between the mountains. Rhod and Angela were buckled into safety belts and edged their way along the slats of the bridge, trying not to look down to the rapids below them. Breathtaking in more ways than one! More sedate was a visit to the village of witches, Molini di Triora, and a meal of the local specialty, snail stew. After the gorgeous 5-star hotel in San Remo, the accommodation became steadily simpler – a castle, an alpine farmhouse and finally, glamping in pods placed in open fields.
The new series is produced by Ricochet, part of Warner Brothers International, and aired on Dave and UKTV.