Edited by:
redazione
As parish priest of Alagna Valsesia, he reached the Signalkuppe – now known as Punta Gnifetti – on 9 August 1842.
Personal details
name: Giovanni Gnifetti
born: 2 April 1801 – Alagna Valsesia
died: 20 October 1867 – Saint-Étienne (France)
Nationality: Italian
Occupation: priest, parish priest of Alagna Valsesia
Membership: Italian Alpine Club, honorary member since 18 March 1866
Biography
Giovanni Pietro Francesco Gnifetti was born in Alagna Valsesia on 2 April 1801, the son of Cristoforo, a stonecutter, and Anna Maria Ghigher. In the baptismal register, the surname appears as Gnifetta. He attended state schools in Varallo, studied philosophy at the seminary in Gozzano and theology at the seminary in Novara. In 1822, he was granted an ecclesiastical benefice in Riva Valdobbia, which enabled him to return to Valsesia, and in 1823 he was ordained a priest. He served as chaplain and then curate in Alagna, becoming parish priest there in 1834 and remaining in that post until his death.
His ministry was closely intertwined with the cultural life of the Walser community. He supported theeducation of his fellow villagers and was a member of the Gabinetto Letterario di Alagna, a literary circle frequented, amongst others, by Giovanni Giordani, Giuseppe Farinetti, Antonio Carestia and Antonio Grober, where discussions centred on the Walser language and culture, the sciences and the mountains. He also pursued topography and glaciology, carrying out measurements on site.
His connection with Monte Rosa took shape after his appointment as parish priest. The Signalkuppe, the peak clearly visible from Alagna, was the subject of three attempts – in 1834, 1836 and 1839 – none of which reached the summit. On 9 August 1842, Gnifetti reached the summit with seven companions, two of whom were porters. Giuseppe Farinetti, assisted by Giovanni Giordani, climbed the terminal tower and fixed a large red flag there. This was the first documented ascent of the Signalkuppe, though not of Monte Rosa in the sense of its highest peak, Punta Dufour.
The name ‘Signalkuppe’ does not derive from that flag: the name was already in use before 1842. A 1926 CAI publication quotes Gnifetti himself, according to whom Zumstein had already referred to the pyramid as Punta del Segnale, whilst other nineteenth-century sources link the name to its function as a topographical signal point. In the years that followed, Gnifetti circumnavigated the massif and compiled his observations in a published work dedicated to Monte Rosa.
On 7 October 1867, he set off with the intention of visiting the Universal Exhibition in Paris. After a stopover in Lyon, he arrived in Saint-Étienne on 11 October, where he fell ill. He did not reach Paris and died on 20 October, after a few days of illness, the nature of which is not specified in the sources. The obituary published by the CAI in 1867 refers to him as a Knight of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus. He was buried in the cemetery at Saint-Étienne, in the section reserved for Catholic priests. A century later, in July 1967, his remains were returned to Valsesia and laid to rest on Punta Gnifetti.
Mountaineering exploits
Signalkuppe, now known as Punta Gnifetti (4,554 m) – 9 August 1842 – first documented ascent, with Cristoforo Grober, Giovanni Giordani, Giacomo Giordani, Cristoforo Ferraris, Giuseppe Farinetti and two porters
Places and names
Punta Gnifetti summit, formerly Signalkuppe (4,554 m) – Monte Rosa massif, Italian–Swiss border – named after Giovanni Gnifetti
Capanna Giovanni Gnifetti mountain hut (3,647 m) – a rocky spur between the Garstelet and Lys glaciers, Gressoney-La-Trinité – named after Giovanni Gnifetti
Works
Topographical Notes on Monte Rosa and Ascents Thereof, Turin, G. Marzorati, 1845
Topographical Notes on Monte Rosa and Ascents Thereof, second expanded edition, Novara, Enrico Crotti, 1858
Topographical Notes on Monte Rosa and Ascents Thereof, in Journal of the Alps, the Apennines and Volcanoes, Turin, G. Cassone and Co., 1866, pp. 437–464
Bibliography
As a writer no critical study of his written works has been verified
As a significant reference
Elisa Farinetti, Pier Paolo Viazzo, Giovanni Gnifetti and the conquest of the Signalkuppe. Alagna in the 19th century. Mountaineering, culture and society, Magenta, Edizioni Zeisciu, 1992