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Step by step: Andrea Loreni in Milan on her way to Italy's tallest building
Photo: Claudia Greco / REUTERS
Sometimes it's important to turn off your mind completely and just take one step at a time. At least that's how the Italian high-wire artist Andrea Loreni sees it. "It's the feet that take me to the other side of the cable, not the head," he said in an interview with Corriere della Sera. Loreni, born in 1975, went for a walk at a height of 140 meters on Friday.
In Milan, the philosopher walked through the air on a 20-millimeter steel cable between two of the city's most striking buildings: the green high-rise complex "Bosco Verticale" (Vertical Forest) and the Unicredit Tower.
The balancing act that opened an international festival for street theatre and circus arts in Milan lasted 20 minutes. "On the rope there is only the here and now," Loreni told the newspaper; Years of Zen meditation helped the native of Turin to conquer the fear of falling.
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Headless Artist: Andrea Loreni in Milan
Photo: Italy Photo Press / IMAGO
When asked about the fear, Loreni said: "In the beginning it was a scream, then an uncontrolled flow of thoughts, then a whisper." Over time, fear has become one of his "tools." I'm certainly not challenging them. Rather, I try to receive them with grace," says Loreni. Once you've installed the cable securely, the risk is the same as in life: no one is immortal."
Loreni has been walking through the air since 2006, and in 2017 he hiked across the Tiber River in Rome. The man with the mottled grey, long beard and sky-blue eyes researches Zen and tightrope walking, and he also teaches at universities and advises managers in companies and banks on how to appear more confident and learn to overcome their fears.
Loreni needed 20 minutes on Friday evening for the 205-meter-long walk; seven employees secured him on his first walk at this altitude.
"It was an intense journey, a deep adventure," the artist told the »Corriere della Sera« immediately after the performance – and was visibly relieved to have survived the adventure unscathed.