Italian apples get their own dedicated cable car ride

ROME (Reuters) -Apple farmers in northern Italy have a new way of getting their harvest down the hills and into storage in caves below - a cable car system dedicated to transporting the fruit.

The cable car line in the Val di Non in the Dolomites covers a distance of 1.3 km (0.8 miles) and a 90-metre drop.

Officials from the local Melinda apple-producing consortium estimate it will eliminate 5,000 lorry trips annually. It can carry 460 containers over the course of an hour, each weighing 300 kg.

The cable car was developed by specialist Italian company Leitner and local workers, with 40% of the funding coming from the European Union's post-COVID recovery funds.

Melinda President Ernesto Seppi called the cableway "a source of pride" and part of a broader sustainability strategy that includes the use of renewable energy, drip irrigation to help conserve water, and natural cold storage.

(Writing by Keith Weir, editing by Gavin Jones and Hugh Lawson)