Thousands of tourists flock to Italian lake to stroll on a 1.9-mile floating art installation

Thousands of people stepped out onto artist Christo Vladimirov Javacheff's latest work in northern Italy on Saturday June 18,2016 and Sunday, seizing the chance to 'walk on water'.

The project, titled 'The Floating Piers', cost 15million euros ($16.7million) to create and is made up of 200,000 floating cubes covered in orange fabric.

It is currently floating atop Lake Iseo, connecting the village of Sulzano to the small island of Monte Isola on the lake. 

Several of the first visitors to experience the installation removed their shoes to better appreciate the 'physical project' that was first conceived in 1970 but has taken until now to come to fruition 

 More than 55,000 visitors attempted to cross the walkways on Saturday, forcing organisers, who had anticipated just 40,000, to ask that they return another day 

The number of visitors reached a peak after lunch on Saturday with a long queue snaking toward the project's entrance.

The walkways can only hold 11,000 people at any one time - and only if weather conditions allow. Organisers expect it to attract 500,000 visitors by the time it closes in July2016