Tourist Dies After Cliff-Diving Accident in Popular Italian Destination

A 23-year-old tourist died after a cliff-diving accident at a popular Italian destination. 

Francesco Aronica was visiting Polignano a Mare, a tourist destination on the Adriatic Sea, when he jumped off a 20-foot cliff. The location was popularized after professional cliff-divers took part in Red Bull’s Cliff Diving World Series earlier this summer. 

However, Aronica's jump turned tragic after hitting his head and being rushed to the hospital. He reportedly lost consciousness during the accident before going into cardiac arrest. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital. 

"It is a different thing when the professionals do it, they have the equipment, the support," the president of Polignano a Mare's town council, Anna De Donato, said in a statement following the incident. "The tourists need to pay attention and avoid being reckless."

Prior to the 2025 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, the energy drink brand explained the draw of the Italian cliffside town, saying, "Since 2009, over 500,000 sports fans to date have flooded into the sun-drenched streets for one action-packed summer weekend in Italy's Polignano a Mare."

"For a few intense days, the Puglian cliffs become a natural coliseum, the sea becomes the landing zone and the entire town becomes part of the adrenaline-fuelled competition," Red Bull claimed, explaining that 24 "elite athletes perform gravity-defying dives up to 27m above the Adriatic Sea."

A professional cliff-diver had a near-death experience while competing in the World Series on June 28. 

Canadian Molly Carlson, 26, lost her footing and slipped from the 22m cliff and was forced to drop out of the competition. 

"Watching it again, it's always terrifying. You don't expect yourself to slip off a 22-metre platform after years of doing it perfectly," Carlson told CBC Sports