By Barbara A. Schmitz
Andrea Venturini, of Florence, Italy, had always wanted to be a pilot. But he never thought it was possible without money and proper introductions.
But during a vacation in Scotland, a friend took him to the field where his father flew gliders in the 1960s.
“I bought three launches for 85 pounds. Even though the weather wasn’t the best, it allowed me to be in command of the glider for three flights. It made me realize that flying is the most beautiful thing anyone can do.”
He was hooked. Before returning to Italy, he signed up for classes and got his glider license at age 50. But after a while, he decided he wanted to fly in a motored plane. “A glider is too much like a sailing boat; it’s too dependent on the weather,” he explained.
So while visiting family in Connecticut, he earned his private pilot certificate in about 2018.
But when he was back in Italy, a U.S. private certificate didn’t do him much good. So he then earned his private license from the EASA, the equivalent of the FFA in Europe. More certifications, ratings, and endorsements followed: taildragger, tow pilot, aerobatic gliding, and almost seaplane. He came up short on getting his seaplane license due to COVID when he couldn’t go back to take the test.
He earned his U.K. license, and to prove his English proficiency, back in Italy he took and easily passed the Test of English Aviation (TEA) so he could fly internationally. And he continued to fly. Just some of his flights include:
- Flying solo from Boston to Manhattan with only 40 hours logged as a private pilot.
- Coast2Coast2Coast, or flying across the lower half of the United States and back again. A video he posted on Instagram flying over Meteor Crater, Arizona, got him 14 million viewers.
- Flying across the Atlantic Ocean in the Risen airplane from east to west, without refueling, and stopping at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in 2024. The journey took 11 hours and used 43 gallons of fuel.
- Flew from Tuscany, Italy, to Saudi Arabia in an ultralight in December 2025.
Venturini also became the Italian two-seat glider champion in 2021 with Alberto Sironi, a title they still hold today. That championship led him to becoming team captain of the Italian gliding team in 2023.
Today, he’s personally logged about 1,000 hours and is ready for his next adventure, which he said he will continue to share with high school students, encouraging them to pursue aviation and their dreams. That adventure will include a volcano project, and he’s looking for partners to make it happen.
“Sharing the passion is important to me,” he said. “Aviation is the main way to bring people together. There are opportunities out there, but you need to pursue them. I want to make sure my experience will benefit the next generation. But my ultimate dream is to use aviation as a tool to bring a message of peace around the world.”