Explorador y difusor de la Patagonia austral

Father Alberto Maria de Agostini (2 November 1883 – 25 December 1960) born in

Pollone Pollone is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Biella in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about west of Biella. Pollone borders the following municipalities: Biella, Fontainemore, Lillianes, Occhieppo ...

, Piedmont was an Italian

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

of the

Salesians of Don Bosco The Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), formally known as the Society of Saint Francis de Sales (), is a religious congregation of men in the Catholic Church, founded in the late 19th century by Italian priest Saint John Bosco to help poor children du ...

order as well as a passionate

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

, explorer,

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

ethnographer Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

, photographer and

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

Life

De Agostini lived as a missionary in

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla G ...

and

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...

, between Chile and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, where he was the first person to reach several mountain peaks, glaciers and sea sounds; and discovered others, some named after him. In January–February 1931 he, Egidio Feruglio, and the

alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

mountain guides Croux and Bron, were the first to fully cross the

Southern Patagonian Ice Field The Southern Patagonian Ice Field ( es, Hielo Continental or '), located at the Southern Patagonic Andes between Chile and Argentina, is the world's second largest contiguous extrapolar ice field. It is the bigger of two remnant parts of the Pat ...

; they did it from

Lago Viedma Viedma Lake ( es, Lago Viedma, ) is a Patagonian lake in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, situated near its border with Chile. Measuring approximately 50 miles (80 kilometers) in length, it is a major elongated trough lake formed from melt ...

(Argentina) to the vicinity of Patagonian channels of the Pacific Ocean (Chile), and back. In 1941, he was the first to write about

Cueva de las Manos Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for Cave of the Hands or Cave of Hands) is a cave and complex of rock art sites in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, south of the town of Perito Moreno. It is named for the hundreds of paintings of hands sten ...

. He also sustained a long and deep relationship with the native people of Tierra de Fuego. In addition he has left behind 22 books and written works in Italian, German and Spanish; a precious collection of several hundred photographs; and a documentary film; all of them on Patagonia and Tierra de Fuego and the Fuegian tribes. He died in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

on Christmas Day, 1960. There is now an

Alberto de Agostini National Park Alberto de Agostini National Park () is a protected area that was created on January 22, 1965, on land that was formerly part of the "Hollanda" forest reserve and "Hernando de Magallanes National Park". It covers and includes the Cordillera Darwi ...

in the west part of Tierra del Fuego named after him.

Published works

Books

* ''Guía Turística de Magallanes y Canales Fueguinos'' (1924) * ''Guía Turística de los Lagos Argentinos y Tierra del Fuego'' (?) * ''El

Lanín Lanín is an ice-clad, cone-shaped stratovolcano on the border of Argentina and Chile. It forms part of two national parks: Lanín in Argentina and Villarrica in Chile. It is a symbol of the Argentine province of Neuquén, being part of its flag ...

y sus alrededores. Parque nacional'' (1941) * ''Ande Patagoniche – viaggi di esplorazione nella Cordigliera Patagonica australe'' (1949) * ''Trent'anni nella Terra del Fuoco'' (1955) * ''Sfingi di ghiaccio'' (1958)

Films

*''Terre Magellaniche'' (1933)

Bibliography

*F. Surdich: ''De Agostini, Alberto Maria''. In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani vol. 33
online by ''treccani.it''
Italian)

References

External links

Father De Agostini and Patagonia
(in Spanish)
Father De Agostini, the priest mountaineer, photographer and explorer
(in Spanish) 1883 births 1960 deaths Italian explorers History of Patagonia {{Italy-RC-clergy-stub