Prince Luigi Marcantonio Francesco Rodolfo Scipione Borghese, commonly known as Scipione Borghese (11 September 1871,

Migliarino Migliarino is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' (municipality) of Fiscaglia in the Province of Ferrara in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about northeast of Bologna and about southeast of Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city a ...

– 18 November 1927,

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

), was an Italian aristocrat, industrialist, politician, explorer, mountain climber and racing driver belonging to the

House of Borghese The House of Borghese is a princely family of Italian noble and papal background, originating as the Borghese or Borghesi in Siena, where they came to prominence in the 13th century and held offices under the ''commune''. During the 16th century, ...

. He is best known for participating in (and winning) the

Peking to Paris The Peking to Paris motor race was an automobile race, originally held in 1907, between Peking (now Beijing), then Qing China (now the People's Republic of China) and Paris, France (then the Third French Republic), a distance of . The idea for ...

race in 1907, accompanied by the journalist

Luigi Barzini Sr. Luigi Barzini Sr. (February 7, 1874 – September 6, 1947) in Orvieto, son of Ettore Barzini and Maria Bartoccini, was an Italian Senator and the most noted journalist and war correspondent of the second half of the Italian Belle Époque. ...

and Ettore Guizzardi, the prince's chauffeur, who apparently did most of the driving. Nevertheless, before 1907 he had already become known internationally as a traveller, explorer, diplomat and mountain climber. In 1900 he had finished a journey in Asia from

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. His book ''In Asia: Siria, Eufrate, Babilonia'' (In Asia: Syria, Euphrates, Babylon), published in 1903 and which proved a success, describes his journey from Beirut to Basra and the head of the Persian Gulf. Subsequently, he also completed a journey across China, recounted in another book, Catching Fire. Tall and abstemious, he was a man of few words, cold, with calm and measured manners, and with great self-control. He was a

deputy Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spai ...

of the Partito Radicale in the

Italian parliament The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitiona ...

of 1904 to 1913, fought bravely in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and began important improvement works in the "

Agro Romano The Ager Romanus (literally, "the field of Rome"') is the geographical rural area (part plains, part hilly) that surrounds the city of Rome. Politically and historically, it has represented the area of influence of Rome's municipal government. It ...

Family

Borghese was the eldest son of Paolo, 9th Prince of

Sulmona Sulmona ( nap, label= Abruzzese, Sulmóne; la, Sulmo; grc, Σουλμῶν, Soulmôn) is a city and ''comune'' of the province of L'Aquila in Abruzzo, Italy. It is located in the Valle Peligna, a plain once occupied by a lake that disappeared in ...

(1845–1920) and his wife Ilona, Countess Apponyi de Nagy-Appony. He was twice married, firstly to Anna Maria de Ferrari (23 March 1874 – 25 November 1924), daughter of Gaetano, duca di Ferrari by his wife Maria Annenkov, on 23 May 1895, and they had two daughters. His second marriage to Teodora Martini on 8 August 1926 produced no issue. He was succeeded in the title

Prince of Sulmona Prince of Sulmona (Italian: ''Principe di Sulmona'') was a noble title of Italian origin. The title derives its name from Sulmona, a town in Abruzzo. It was originally granted in 1526 with Grandeeship of Spain, during the reign of Charles V, Hol ...

by his brother Livio Borghese, 11th Prince of Sulmona (1874–1939), second son of the 9th Prince.

Children

Santa Borghese
(1 November 1897 Île de France, Paris – 13 April 1997 Rome). She married on 4 July 1925 at Isola Borghese, Lago di Garda, Astorre Hercolani, 9º principe Hercolani. They have 7 children with an A beginning surname.
Livia Borghese
(4 March 1901 Île de France, Paris – 14 December 1969 Bologna, nine months after the death of her husband); she married on 30 December 1930 at Isola Borghese, Lago di Garda, Alessandro, conte Cavazza (1895–1969), by whom she had three sons (the eldest apparently born in 1922, or eight years before her marriage), and several descendants.

Sources

*''This page is a translation of its Italian counterpart.''

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Borghese, Scipione Italian explorers Italian businesspeople Italian travel writers 20th-century travel writers Italian male writers Italian military personnel of World War I Italian mountain climbers Italian racing drivers

Scipione ''Scipione'' ( HWV 20), also called ''Publio Cornelio Scipione'', is an opera seria in three acts, with music composed by George Frideric Handel for the Royal Academy of Music in 1726. The librettist was Paolo Antonio Rolli. Handel composed ''Sc ...

1871 births 1927 deaths People from the Province of Ferrara 20th-century Italian politicians International Olympic Committee members