Edited by:
legacy
In Merate, an evening dedicated to the extraordinary religious figures who have marked the history of mountaineering
Maybe few, outside the small circle of mountain enthusiasts, know that one of the protagonists of the first Italian ascent of the Matterhorn was Abbot Amé Gorret. Even fewer, probably, remember the talented mountaineer Achille Ratti, who went down in history as Pope Pius XI.
At Merate, an evening dedicated to the extraordinary religious figures who have marked the history of mountaineering
Maybe few people, outside the small circle of mountain enthusiasts, know that one of the protagonists of the first Italian ascent of the Matterhorn was Abbot Amé Gorret. Even fewer, probably, remember the valiant mountaineer Achille Ratti, who later went down in history as Pope Pius XI.
In addition to their names, history has also passed on the names of several other churchmen who have crossed paths with the evolution of mountaineering, sometimes as simple enthusiasts, in other cases as protagonists in the international elite of climbers.
To these extraordinary figures is dedicated the evening that the Cai di Merate, with the patronage of the municipal administration, will propose on Friday 21 October at 9 p.m. at the Sala civica in Viale Lombardia. The meeting takes its cue from the book by Andrea Zannini (historian, writer and mountaineer) entitled "Tonache e piccozze", recently published by Cda&Vivalda editions.
The author himself, in the company of Serafino Ripamonti, journalist and mountain enthusiast, will recount some of these fascinating events, focusing in particular on the period between the first ascent of Mont Blanc (1786) and the conquest of the Matterhorn (1865).
In this 'infancy' of mountaineering, priests and religious men such as Georges Carrel, Don Giovanni Gnifetti - the first climber of the peak of the same name on Monte Rosa - or the aforementioned Amé Gorret played an important role. They were men of the mountains who had a higher education and created that synthesis between romantic sensibility and rational curiosity that contributed to the sporting and psychological foundations of early mountaineering.
The meeting will be introduced by a film contribution made by the Cai Merate, which will also focus on characters that are geographically closer to us and have become part of the myth of local mountaineers, such as Don Giuseppe Buzzetti from Chiavenna, a solitary explorer of the Masino-Bregaglia mountains, who mysteriously disappeared among the peaks on 14 July 1934.
CURRICULA
Andrea Zannini (the evening's speaker) is a lecturer in Modern History at the University of Udine. An alpinist and journalist, he has long collaborated with the monthly Alp and published the Gruppo di Sella guidebook in the Monti d'Italia series (Tci-Cai).
Serafino Ripamonti (moderator of the evening) is an alpinist and journalist. He edited the mountain column in the Giornale di Lecco newspaper and took part in the K2-2004 mountaineering expedition as press officer at base camp. He currently collaborates with the magazines Montebianco and Orobie.
.