Pietro Paleocapa on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Pietro Paleòcapa ( gr, Πέτρος Παλαιοκαπάς,
Paleocapa was born in Nese,
Nese Nese may refer to:
* Nese, Italy, a village in northern Italy
* Nese, Norway, a village in south-western Norway
* Nese language, an Oceanic language or dialect spoken in Vanuatu
* Tony Nese, American professional wrestler See also
* Neşe, ...
, 11 November 1788 – 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 ...
, 13 February 1869) was an Italian scientist, politician and engineer.
He lived and worked with success in Italy, rising to a notable level of prominence.
Life
Paleocapa was born in Nese, Alzano Lombardo
Alzano Lombardo (Bergamasque: ) is a in the province of Bergamo, Lombardy, northern Italy.
Alzano received the honorary title of city with a presidential decree of 11 March 1991. It is home to the San Martino Museum of Religious Art and the Basi ...
, from a family of Greek origins who had moved to Bergamo
Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Como ...
after the Ottoman conquest of Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...
. He studied law and mathematics at the University of Padua
The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from B ...
. He joined the Military Academy of Modena
The Military Academy of Modena ( it, Accademia militare di Modena) is a military university in Modena, northern Italy. Located in the Palazzo Ducale in the historic center of the city, it was the first such military institution to be created in ...
and became Lieutenant.
He served for two years in the Napoleonic
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
militia, and in 1817 he joined the Venetian Engineers of Water and Streets Corp, dealing in particular with hydraulics; he worked on railways, tunnels and waterways, contributing significantly to the construction of many essential infrastructures, including the fortress of Osoppo
Osoppo ( fur, Osôf) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Udine in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about northwest of Udine.
Osoppo borders the following municipalities: Buja, For ...
in Friuli
Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giulia ...
.
In 1813 he fought the Germans but, after the Battle of Yütterbok, he became a prisoner. He escaped and returned to Italy where he retired to private life for two years.
In 1817 he joined the "Corpo del Genio Civile" and in 1821 he was transferred to Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
. In 1825 he was called to Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
where he was commissioned to design and direct the census. Tired of the excessive bureaucracy and therefore difficulties, he asked to be transferred to Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
in 1829.
In 1840 he became a general manager in Venice, and oversaw the works on the rivers Brenta, Bacchiglione
__NOTOC__
The Bacchiglione ( la, Medoacus Minor, "Little Medoacus") is a river that flows in Veneto, northern Italy. It rises in the Alps and empties about later into the Brenta River near Chioggia. It flows through and past a number of cities, in ...
, Adige
The Adige (; german: Etsch ; vec, Àdexe ; rm, Adisch ; lld, Adesc; la, Athesis; grc, Ἄθεσις, Áthesis, or , ''Átagis'') is the second-longest river in Italy, after the Po. It rises near the Reschen Pass in the Vinschgau in the prov ...
, Tartaro-Canalbianco-Po di Levante, the drainage of several marshy areas near Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...
and the construction of a dam in Malamocco
Malamocco ( vec, Małamoco) was the first, and for a long time, the only settlement on the Lido of Venice barrier island of the Lagoon of Venice. It is located just south of the island's center and it is part of the Lido-Pellestrina borough of t ...
, Venice. It also made Tartar and the White Canal. Because of his proven skills, he was also consulted about the regulation of the Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
and the marshes of the Tibisco area.
He was a patriot and believed in the Italian unification
The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...
, and he played an important role in the negotiation of the annexation of Venice to Piedmont
it, Piemontese
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, demographics1_title2 ...
. As a reward, he became deputy to the Subalpine Parliament and Minister of Public Works in the Savoy government. Having become almost blind, he was forced to leave his position in 1857.
While he was in Turin, he promoted railway development with the aim of linking the Italian markets beyond the Alpine arc, working in particular on the design of the Fréjus Rail Tunnel
The Fréjus Rail Tunnel (also called Mont Cenis Tunnel) is a rail tunnel of length in the European Alps, carrying the Turin–Modane railway through Mont Cenis to an end-on connection with the Culoz–Modane railway and linking Bardonecchia in ...
.
From 1855, he collaborated with a key role in designing the Suez Canal
The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...
, along with Luigi Negrelli. He died in Turin in 1869.
Works
* * * * * * * * ''Su la condizione idrografica della Maremma Veneta'', Venezia, 1848. * ''Sulla ferrovia attraverso le alpi elvetiche'', Torino 1863. Postume publications * ''Carteggi di Pietro Paleocapa del 1848–49'', a cura di P. Sambin, Venezia, 1952. * ''Memoria Idraulica sulla regolamentazione dei fiumi Brenta e Bacchiglione'' (a cura di Pietro Casetta), Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Roma 2002.References