| Prince Luigi Amedeo | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duke of the Abruzzi | |||||
 | |||||
| Born | (1873-01-29)29 January 1873 Royal Palace of Madrid, Madrid,Spain | ||||
| Died | 18 March 1933(1933-03-18) (aged 60) Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi,Italian Somaliland | ||||
| Burial | |||||
| |||||
| House | Savoy | ||||
| Father | Amadeo I of Spain | ||||
| Mother | Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo | ||||
Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi (29 January 1873 – 18 March 1933) was an Italian mountaineer and explorer, brieflyInfante of Spain as son ofAmadeo I of Spain, member of the royalHouse of Savoy, and cousin of the Italian KingVictor Emmanuel III.[1] He is known for his Arctic explorations and for his mountaineering expeditions, particularly toMount Saint Elias andK2. He also served as an Italian admiral duringWorld War I.[2] He createdVillaggio Duca degli Abruzzi inItalian Somalia during his last years of life.
He was born inMadrid,Spain as the third oldest son ofPrince Amadeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta and his first wife DonnaMaria Vittoria dal Pozzo della Cisterna. Prince Luigi Amedeo was a grandson ofKing Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy. He was born during his father's brief reign as King of Spain. His siblings werePrince Emanuele Filiberto,Prince Vittorio Emanuele, andPrince Umberto. Shortly after his birth, his father, who had reigned in Spain since 1870, abdicated and returned to Italy in 1873. Prince Luigi Amedeo was a member of theHouse of Savoy, well known in Europe since the 12th century. His uncle becameKing Umberto I of Italy in 1878, and his cousin becameKing Vittorio Emanuele III in 1900.
The titleDuke of the Abruzzi (Italian:Duca degli Abruzzi) was created by King Umberto I in 1890 for Luigi Amedeo, who was a son of the abdicating King of Spain Amadeus and initially was given the title ofInfante of Spain. His ducal title referred to the central Italian region ofAbruzzo.
From 1893 to 1896, Luigi Amedeo traveled around the world, includingEritrea, then an Italian possession, andVancouver. In September 1893, he traveled toItalian Somaliland to quell the unrest and stayed for a month to guard the port ofMogadishu, giving him his first contact with a land to which he would later devote the last years of his life and in which he would choose to die.[3] He had begun to train as a mountaineer in 1892 onMont Blanc andMonte Rosa (Italian Alps): in 1897 he made the first ascent ofMount Saint Elias (Canada/U.S., 5,489 m).[4] There the expedition searched for a mirage, known as the Silent City of Alaska, that natives and prospectors claimed to see over a glacier. C. W. Thornton, a member of the expedition, wrote: "It required no effort of the imagination to liken it to a city, but was so distinct that it required, instead, faith to believe that it was not in reality a city."[citation needed]
In 1898, Prince Luigi Amedeo organized an expedition towards theNorth Pole and consulted the famous polar explorerFridtjof Nansen that had sailed the furthest north with theColin Archer-built polar shipFram (ship) in 1893–1896. In 1899 Amedeo acquiredJason, a steamwhaler of 570 tons. He renamed herStella Polare and took her to Colin Archer's shipyard inLarvik, Norway. The interior was stripped out and beams, diagonals and knees heavily strengthened the ship.
In the spring of 1899 he arrived in the Norwegian capitalChristiania with ten companions andStella Polare ("Pole Star") took the expedition through the frozen sea. On 12 June they headed forArchangel (Arkhangelsk).
On 30 JuneStella Polare dropped anchor in the docks of Arkhangelsk and the duke was solemnly received by Governor Engelhardt. The same day, Prince Luigi Amedeo was invited to meet the local authorities and the present foreign diplomats.
On 7 July, a local newspaper wrote:
Later the duke himself wrote about his stay in Arkhangelsk: "Our departure was set for July 12. Early in the morning the church was open to us and we, although being Catholic, were allowed to join the mass. In the afternoon all the dogs were brought back on board to their kennels. In the evening theStella Polare put out and was escorted by two steamers down theDvina. I still remained on shore, as well as Doctor Cavalli, in order to spend the evening together with our Italian friends. Next evening we left Arkhangel’sk. During the whole journey we saw flags being hoisted to welcome us..."
Twenty men took part in the expedition, among them CaptainUmberto Cagni, Lieutenant F. Querini and Doctor A. Cavalli Molinelli. They planned to go toFranz Joseph Land, in the Arctic wilderness, to establish a camp in which to stay during winter time and, afterwards, to reach the North Pole by dogsled across the frozen sea.
Prince Luigi Amedeo established the winter camp onRudolf Island. The expedition was to start at the end of the Arctic night. The duke lost two fingers during winter because of the cold, which made it impossible for him to join the trip by sledge. He left the command over the pole expedition to Captain Cagni. On 11 March 1900, Cagni left the camp and reached latitude 86° 34’ on 25 April, settinga new record by beating Nansen's result of 1895 by 35 to 40 kilometres (22 to 25 mi). Cagni barely managed to return to the camp on 23 June. On 16 AugustStella Polare left Rudolf Island heading south and the expedition returned to Norway. During the expedition, the northern coast of Rudolf Island and two other islands were explored and measured.[4]
In 1906, inspired byHenry Morton Stanley's last wishes, the Duke led an expedition to theRuwenzori Range (5,125 m), inUganda. He scaled sixteen summits in the range, including the six principal peaks. One of them,Mount Luigi di Savoia, bears his name. The highest peak was reached on 18 June 1906.[4]
His next great expedition, in 1909, aimed to climbK2 inKarakoram. A team led by Prince Luigi Amedeo reached a height of 6,250 m on the ridge. The standard route up the mountain (formerly known as K2's East Ridge) climbs today on theAbruzzi Spur.[5][6][7][8]
In an attempt onChogolisa, he and his companions again failed to reach the summit, but set aworld altitude record, a height of approximately 7,500 m (24,600 ft) before turning around just 150 m below the summit due to bad weather.[7]
Avice-admiral in the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina), he was Inspector ofTorpedo Craft from 1911 to 1912. DuringWorld War I, he was the Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Fleet (1914–1917) based inTaranto, hisflagship being theItalian battleship Conte di Cavour. Under the duke, theRegia Marina was responsible for saving theArmy of theKingdom of Serbia.[9] In February 1917, he was replaced byPaolo Thaon di Revel, under pressure from the British and French allies. In February 1918, he was promoted to admiral, but played no further role of importance.
The Explorers Club in New York elected the duke to its highest category of membership — Honorary Member — in 1912.[citation needed]
The duke assisted Italian dictatorBenito Mussolini with theItalo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1928. He traveled toAddis Ababa with gifts.[10] One gift, aFiat 3000 tank, ended up playing a role in crushing the abortivecoup d'état of 1928.[11]
In 1932, the duke was briefly the president of the newly mergedItalian Line of steamships.[9] In 1931, combining all of Italy's transatlantic carriers into the Italian Line was one of Mussolini's biggest business deals. However, the duke resigned soon afterSS Rex broke down atGibraltar. According to him, "My reason is that I have been unable to achieve harmony among executives who formerly headed competing lines."[12]
In 1918, the Duke returned toItalian Somaliland. In 1920, he founded the "Village of the Duke of Abruzzi" (Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi orVillabruzzi) some ninety kilometres north ofMogadishu. It was an agricultural settlement experimenting with new cultivation techniques.
By 1926, the colony comprised 16 villages, with 3,000 Somali and 200 Italian (Italian Somalis) inhabitants. Abruzzi raised funds for a number of development projects in the town, including roads, dams, schools, hospitals, a church and a mosque.
He died in the village on 18 March 1933.
In the late 1930s, the village area was one of the most socio-economically developed in eastern Africa. The area around the "Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi" was the most agriculturally developed of Somalia beforeWorld War II and had some important food industries.[13]
After Italian Somaliland was officially dissolved in 1947, the town was later renamed toJowhar.[14]
In the early years of the twentieth century, Abruzzi was in a relationship with Katherine Hallie "Kitty" Elkins, daughter of the wealthy American senatorStephen Benton Elkins, but Abruzzi's cousin KingVictor Emmanuel III of Italy refused to grant him permission to marry a commoner. His brother,Emanuele Filiberto, to whom Luigi was very close, persuaded him to give up the relationship.[15][16][17][18] His brother later approved of young Antoinette "Amber" Brizzi, the daughter of Quinto Brizzi, one of the largest vineyard owners in Northern Italy. Despite this, Abruzzi was never officially married; however, in the later years of his life, Abruzzi had a relationship and deep romantic partnership with Faduma Ali, a youngSomali woman who stayed by his side even while he was on his deathbed.[19]
A species of African lizard,Leptosiaphos aloysiisabaudiae, is named in honor of Prince Luigi Amedeo.[21]
| Styles of Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi | |
|---|---|
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| Reference style | His Royal Highness |
| Spoken style | Your Royal Highness |
Kingdom of Italy:
Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Knight of Honour and Devotion of the Military Order of Malta
Empire of Japan: Grand Cordon of theOrder of the Chrysanthemum,19 June 1895[25]
United Kingdom:
Sweden: Knight of the RoyalOrder of the Seraphim,11 September 1900[27]
United States:Cullum Geographical Medal,1903[28]
Siam: Knight of the Most IllustriousOrder of the Royal House of Chakri,2 January 1904[29]
Albania: Grand Cordon of the Order of the Black Eagle,1914
Spain: Grand Cross of the Royal and DistinguishedOrder of Charles III, with Collar,1928[30]| Ancestors of Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)
Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi Born: 29 January 1873 Died: 18 March 1933 | ||
| Italian nobility | ||
|---|---|---|
| New title | Duke of the Abruzzi 1st creation 1890 – 1933 | Vacant Never bestowed upon till Title next held by Prince Amedeo Michele |
