The Guinness Book of Records and the Italians
Some crazy challenges involving ice cream, pizza and a motorcycle
Many Italian nationals have challenged themselves to break some of the most curious records to be included in the Guinness Book of Records. A few examples will show how the Italian creativity has been used to obtain bizarre achievements.
On September 20th, 2015, Italian gelato maker Dimitri Panciera from Forno di Zoldo, in Veneto, balanced a 121 ice cream scoops of gelato on a cone, breaking his own previous world record of 109. Apparently, his secret is a particular mixture of ingredients in the ice cream, which makes the amalgam hold together.
Another world record in the field of food was the longest pizza. It measured 1,853.88 m and was achieved by a team of chefs in Naples (where else?), on May 18th, 2016. It took 250 persons and 11 hours to make the pizza; they used 2,000 kg of flour, 1,600 kg of tomatoes, 2,000 kg of mozzarella, 200 litres of oil, 30kg of fresh basil and 1500 litres of water. "It's absolutely a point of pride for our city, which is the home of pizza," declared Alessandro Marinacci, the group's leader, after the preparation was completed. The previous record was held by another team of Italian chefs, who cooked their pizza at Milan World Expo 2015.
Italians aren't only master chefs, but also mad for wheels. Fabio Reggiani built the world's highest functioning motorcycle, measuring 5.10 metres from the ground to the top of the handlebars. It took seven months to build and the motorbike is powered by a 5.7L V8 engine, running at 280 hp. Mr Reggiani also drove it over a 100-m course at Montecchio Emilia, on March 24th, 2012. Our love for speed is not limited to vehicles. The Fastest non-motorised humans on the planet are Italian skiers Ivan Origone and Valentina Greggio, who beat the world record with speeds, shooting down the ski slope at 254.958 and 247.038 km per hour.
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