Edited by:
Massimo Martini
But where is it written that in order to experience great adventures in the mountains, one must be a superman endowed with superhuman strength and courage beyond all limits? "Farewell to the Crags' is a fine example of literature in which the myth of the super-mountaineer is debunked and the focus is on the everyday man with his fears, his emotions and his desire to test his limits, but not out of competition so much as 'self-consciousness'.
In reality, the theme of the book is the narration of six summers in the Dolomites at the turn of the 1930s, during which the author discovers the mountains and mountaineering and falls madly in love with them. The author of the book is Mario Salvadori, a scientist and researcher, who in 1939 was forced to flee to the United States as a result of the anti-racial laws enacted by Mussolini. Salvadori was part of that large group of 'brains' who left Italy during the fascist period as a result of the situation that had arisen and who found in the United States the terrain in which to pursue their research. In 1978, Professor Amadori decided to return to Italy with his American wife to show her the land of his youth and, naturally, they also went to Cortina, where Amadori took his first steps as a mountaineer. The occasion makes the author relive the summers he had spent around half a century earlier among the Dolomite peaks. The memories of his parents, kept in the dark about his passion for a long time, his brother, his first climbing partner, his first self-taught exploits and his great friendships with the most famous mountaineers of the time such as Severino Casara, Antonio Berti, the off-beat [[Emilio Comici]]. These are all beautiful memories that emerge from the pages of the text, full of emotions, simple feelings, friendship, love and that end with the 1932 accident on the Croda dei Toni from which he miraculously emerges unharmed but which will bring to an end his adventure as an alpinist. What is striking in Amadori's book is the simplicity of the language and descriptions and the sense of naturalness with which people went into the mountains for the sake of satisfying a passion of their own. How far we are today from that pure and indomitable spirit, bombarded by false myths and false competitions. Amadori's mountain is everyone's mountain, it is the place where free spirits meet, where everyone gives vent to their passions according to their abilities. One particular aspect is the description of Italian society in those years between the world wars, where the differences between the various social classes emerge, even if they are then cancelled out by the passion and ardour of youth. Interesting are the black and white photos that accompany the volume and portray an unknown Comici, a lover of the outdoors and friendship, as well as seeing the clothing style of the mountaineers of the time, which combines the practicality of clothing with a certain sophistication of detail. No less interesting is the appendix edited by Gianni Battimeli "Gli alpinisti di via Panisperna" (The mountaineers of via Panisperna), which reveals the unknown passion for the mountains that united the Roman scientists in the circle of Nobel Prize winner Enrico Fermi, Salvadori's friends and colleagues.
Reviews by
Luca De Franco
- Consult all the reviews of Luca De Franco
- Consult [[Luca De Franco]]
Author:
Mario Salvadori
Collection:
The Lichens
Year of publication:
2004
Language:
Italian
N° Pages:
118
Format:
15 x 20 cm
Price:
12.00€