Enrico Alberto d'Albertis (23 March 1846 – 3 March 1932) was an Italian navigator, writer, philologist, ethnologist and philanthropist. His cousin
Luigi Maria d'Albertis was also an explorer and naturalist.
Biography
Born at
Voltri
Voltri is a quartiere of the Italian city of Genoa, located west of the city centre.
It was formerly an independent comune.
In 2015, Voltri and the nearby hamlets included in Genoa's VII Municipio (Crevari, Acquasanta, Vesima, Fabbriche) had a ...
, now part of
Genoa
Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
, d'Albertis enlisted in the
Royal Italian Navy and took part in the
Battle of Lissa (1866)
The Battle of Lissa (or Battle of Vis) () was a naval battle between an Kingdom of Italy, Italian and an Austrian Empire, Austrian fleet during the Third Italian War of Independence. It took place on July 20, 1866, near the island of Vis (island) ...
. Later he served on the battleships ''Ancona'' and ''Formidabile''. Later he moved to the Merchant Navy, and was the commander of ''Emilia'', the lead ship of the first Italian convoy in the
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...
.
Starting from 1874, he dedicated his life to yachting.
After founding the first
Italian Yacht Club in 1879, he recreated
Christopher Columbus' journey to
San Salvador
San Salvador () is the Capital city, capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its San Salvador Department, eponymous department. It is the country's largest agglomeration, serving as the country's political, cultural, educational and fin ...
by sailing two cutters, the ''Violante'' and the ''Corsaro'', using nautical instruments he had handcrafted, modeled on the ones used by Columbus. In addition, D'Albertis traveled around the world three times, circumnavigated Africa once, and carried out archaeological digs with
Arturo Issel
Arturo Issel (Genoa April 11, 1842 – Genoa November 27, 1922) was an Italian geologist, palaeontologist, malacologist and archaeologist, born in Genoa. He is noted for first defining the Tyrrhenian Stage in 1914. Issel was also renowned at the ...
.
During
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, he patrolled as a volunteer in
Tyrrhenian Sea
The Tyrrhenian Sea (, ; or ) , , , , is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenians, Tyrrhenian people identified with the Etruscans of Italy.
Geography
The sea is bounded by the islands of C ...
, receiving the Merit Cross.
D'Albertis personally designed the
Castello d'Albertis
D'Albertis Castle () is a historic residence located in Genoa, in the north-western region of Italy. The castle was the former home of sea captain Enrico Alberto d'Albertis and was donated to the city of Genoa upon his death in 1932. Today, it ...
, his residence in Genoa, where he showed his personal collection, including, among the others, weapons from his trips to
Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
,
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
,
America
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
. Some rooms were in typical yachts design.
D'Albertis died at Genoa in 1932. His castle and collections were donated to the city of Genoa, who turned them into the Museum of World Cultures.
Sailor and gentleman
The figure of the captain d'Albertis was certainly that of an original person, animated by a taste for challenges, discovery and exploration. In 1872, then at only twenty-six years of age he traveled the distance between his city, Genoa, and
Turin
Turin ( , ; ; , then ) 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 from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
using a wooden velocipede with metal wheels. Around the same time, the journey between the Ligurian capital and
Nice
Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million[Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...]
and along the coasts of
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
- did it in 1877. The crossing that would have made him famous in the world of navigators organized it in 1891, the year before the four hundredth anniversary of the
discovery of America
The human history of the Americas is thought to begin with people migrating to these areas from Asia during the height of an ice age. These groups are generally believed to have been isolated from the people of the "Old World" until the coming o ...
by
Cristoforo Colombo; d'Albertis had a specially built yacht - the '' Corsaro '' - and with it retraced Columbus's course. In twenty-seven days of navigation, using the same equipment used by his great predecessor, he reached the coasts of San Salvador. The jump from the island of
Caribbean
The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
to
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
, to receive the official greeting of the US authorities, was brief.
The journey back to the old continent was not as comfortable for d'Albertis as it had been, after all, the one going, although it happened on one of the four school ships of the Naval Academy of Livorno that were at anchor in the bay of San Lorenzo . The ship on which the captain was staying, in fact, ran into a storm that caused waves ten meters high while he was off the island of Terranova and only after a few days of navigation he managed to get out of the storm.
Returning to his city, d'Albertis then began to frequent the group of explorers and naturalists who had gathered around the Marquis Giacomo Doria; for his part he tried to make himself useful to the research by performing analyzes of the seas, fish and plants he came across during his travels. An explorer, but also a scientist at home, he conducted excavation campaigns with Arturo Issel in some of the many caves of which Liguria was and still is scattered.
That taciturn navigator in a seal-skin jacket
A suggestive - and presumably reliable - description of Captain Enrico Alberto d'Albertis, is that provided by the unknown chronicler of
Caffaro - one of the most sold Genoese newspapers in Genoa at the end of the nineteenth century - who had the privilege of visiting the
Castello d'Albertis
D'Albertis Castle () is a historic residence located in Genoa, in the north-western region of Italy. The castle was the former home of sea captain Enrico Alberto d'Albertis and was donated to the city of Genoa upon his death in 1932. Today, it ...
residence for the first time, and meeting the explorer.
Thus the chronicler - also the author of a
vignette
Vignette may refer to:
* Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy
* Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters
* Vignette (literature), short, i ...
depicting the captain - recalls the meeting in the supplement to the ''Caffaro'' on 1 May 1892:
And he adds:
Tenacior catenis and exotic "memorabilia"
D'Albertis in his travels collected a very important collection of weapons from
Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
,
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
,
Americas
The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...
and
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
: spears, arrows, crossbows of every kind and size, many costumes and an infinite number of exotic tools, now collected i
Museum of World Culturesof
Genoa
Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
.
Also in this case the anonymous chronicler of the '' Caffaro 'is of help', who recalls that to arouse his curiosity, during a visit to the
Castle of Albertis, were in particular a '' dried siren ' 'and a' 'gong' '("species of" tan-tan ", which when put into practice could, even to say, compete with the bell of the
uardtower, even after the much-feared recasting »).
«The art beautiful, modern and dazzling - the chronicler adds - is represented
n sculpture">sculpture.html" ;"title="n sculpture">n sculptureby Cristoforo Colombo ">" [CristoforoColombo">sculpture">n sculpture">sculpture.html" ;"title="n sculpture">n sculptureby Cristoforo Colombo ">" [CristoforoColombo Giovinetto "(see box above) by Giulio Monterverde and archeology from the armor of Fabrizio del Carretto of '' Ithodio magistro ''. »
'' Tenacior catenis '' is the motto of captain Enrico d'Albertis, who on the summit of Monte Galletto, in just over two years, raised - continues the prose of '' Caffaro '' - "that team of towers, small towers and loggias, which artistically grouped together make up its medieval castle.
The coat of arms of the Albertis is in field blue with chains of
silver
Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...
moving from the corners of the
shield, joined in the middle by ring; in the fourth, below, a
star
A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...
of
gold
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
with five points; the enterprise bears a
leopard
The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...
nascent. The
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
summarizes the tenacity, strength, courage, courage, and wonderfully responds to the character of the knight he shines for ".
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alberti, Enrico Alberto
1846 births
1932 deaths
Writers from Genoa
Archaeologists from Genoa
Italian male non-fiction writers
Italian ethnologists
Italian explorers
Italian philologists
Italian philanthropists
Italian mountain climbers
Regia Marina personnel
Military personnel from the Republic of Genoa