Giuseppe Mazzotti

A mountaineer and writer from Treviso, who has left an indelible mark both in the sporting and cultural fields: in fact, he held the position of manager of the Treviso Tourist Board for forty years, contributing significantly to the preservation of the artistic and architectural heritage of that province. When it comes to mountaineering, his list of achievements boasts the first ascent of the east face of theCervino (1932), in the company of his cousin Enzo Benedetti and the Breuil guides, Maurizio Bich, Luigi and Luciano Carrel and Antonio Gaspard. One can read the report of this adventure in one of Mazzotti's most successful literary works: Grandi imprese sul Cervino (1934). But it was in the Dolomites that most of his climbing career took place. His favourite mountains were those of the Popèra group, at the bottom of the Valgrande, where he could boast many first ascents, either absolute or by new route: on the Cima Bagni, on the Campanile di Selvaplana and di Valgrande, on the Guglia 1° and 2° di Stallata, on the Punta del Fulmine NE di Popèra, on the Dito della Madonna del passo Sentinella and on the Campanile Colesei. Some of these exploits are accomplished in the company of his wife, Nerina Crétier, from Valle d'Aosta, sister of that Amilcare Crétier protagonist of the last great feat on the Matterhorn (which was also fatal to him). His most technically difficult ascent remains the opening of a new route (grade V and VI, for an extension of 650 m) on the west face of the Cima Canali in the Pale di San Martino (1935) together with his fellow citizen Arturo Cappelletto. Giuseppe Mazzotti, known as 'Bepi', is nowadays more often remembered for his merits as a mountain writer: In addition to the aforementioned volume on the conquest of the Matterhorn wall by wall, also very famous are 'La montagna preso in giro', (1931), a series of foreshadowing pictures of the failures of mass tourism; the novel 'La grande parete' (1938) and the volume 'Montagnes valdôtaines', the story of a young man's mountaineering vocation, inspired by the life of his brother-in-law (1951; Saint-Vincent prize the following year). Following the thread of his activity as a publicist specialising in mountaineering is no small matter, given that he collaborated with some thirty newspapers, not only Italian: we would however like to recall his participation as a reporter for Resto del Carlino in the Italian expedition to Cerro Aconcagua (1934), which saw the best names in Italian mountaineering of the time, including Renato Chabod, Gabriele Boccalatte, Piero Ghiglione and Giusto Gervasutti, as leading men. Addenda of 27 March 2003 Thanks to the collaboration of our user Gianatonio Furlanetto, we learn that Bepi Mazzotti was also a skilful portraitist: in fact, he has some autographed works by the multi-talented mountaineer, portraying Mr Furlanetto's father, who was a close friend of Mazzotti's. It is also noted in the margin that the two friends were often joined by the old owner of the Pedavena brewery.

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