Alberto Balocco, a confectioner, died after being struck by lightning in the mountains

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Crushed by lightning. This is how the 53-year-old businessman Alberto Balocco and his friend David Vigo (55), the owner of a famous candy company, died while facing the Accietta route on a mountain bike in the mountains of Alta Val Sizzone (Turin). Originally a resident of Turin and Luxembourg. It was the weather and the scene that led the first operators to intervene on the site to hypothesize lightning activity. A passing motorist raised the alarm. The bodies were at the height of a curve, a few steps from each other, on the dirt road. The air ambulance, working in near-confined conditions, managed to evacuate a medical team who attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation but were unsuccessful. In order to recover the bodies, it is necessary to come by land vehicle when landing is not possible. Together with the mountain rescue, the carabinieri of the Fenestrel station were activated, the prosecutor in Turin opened a file, which was handed over to the prosecutor Francesco La Rosa for ritual investigations.

Colle dell’Assietta is one of the symbolic places of Piedmont: in 1747 a battle took place between the troops of the then Kingdom of Sardinia and the French, but it is also one of the places that mountain bike enthusiasts carry in their hearts: the road leading to the refuge is military, winding through breathtaking views with its curves, famous throughout Europe. and is considered the highest in the Western Alps.

Balocco, famous for its panettone, is located in Fossano (Cuneo). On July 2, at the age of 91, died the honorary president Aldo Balocco, who in the second half of the twentieth century invented the famous “Montorlado” panettone and turned the pastry shop founded by his father Francesco Antonio in 1927 into a giant. Snacks employs 500 employees and has a turnover of 200 million euros in 2021. Today his son Alberto, the president and CEO of the company, who was driving the car with his sister Alessandra, lost his life. “We are shocked – Alberto Cirio, President of the Piedmont Region – by this sudden tragedy, a businessman who is a symbol of our land, who brought Piedmont to homes around the world. We hug each other in a very strong hug to his family and his loved ones ».