Giotto_Dainelli_Dolfi

Giotto Dainelli

Giotto Dainelli

Italian geographer, geologist, politician and mayor (1878–1968)

Giotto Dainelli Dolfi (19 May 1878 - 16 November 1968) was an Italian geographer, geologist, paleontologist, traveller and writer. Dainelli travelled in Eritrea, Africa, and to the Himalayas. He was a supporter of Italian fascism but was not a signatory of the Manifesto of Race.

In 1924

Dainelli was born in Florence, the son of General Luigi and Virginia Mari. He grew up travelling with his father both on work and on travel. He studied natural sciences at Florence, graduating in 1900 with studies under the geologist Carlo De Stefani (1851-1924) before joining the University of Vienna. He studied the Friulian Prealps north of Venezia Giulia. He also studied the Pliocene of Italy along with P. Videsott and A. Sestini. He became a lecturer at Florence in 1903 and from 1914 at the University of Pisa as a chair of geography. He travelled to Eritrea along with Olinto Marinelli, Lamberto Loria and Aldobrandino Mochi in 1905–6.[1] This expedition followed after he attended the Italian Colonial Congress at Asmara.[2] In 1913-1914 he travelled to the Karakoram and Himalayas along with the expedition headed by Filippo De Filippi. Other members of this expedition included Giorgio Abetti, Nello Venturi Ginori, Camillo Alessandri, Lieutenant Alberto Alessio, engineer John Alfred Spranger, Major Henry Wood of the Survey of India along with surveyors Janma Prasad and Shib Lal, alpine guide Joseph Petigax, and Lieutenant Cesare Antilli.[3][4][5] In 1921 he moved to Naples and in 1924 moved back to Florence to take the place made vacant by De Stefani upon his death. He made another expedition into the Horn of Africa in 1936–37. He taught until 1944 with a break during World War II. A supporter of fascist rule, he was favoured by Benito Mussolini who made him Podestà (mayor) of Florence in 1944. He served as the president of the Academy of Italy from 1944 to 1945, following the assassination of Giovanni Gentile by the Gruppi di Azione Patriottica (gappisti). He wrote an autobiography in 1967.[6][7] His collection of expedition photographs are held by the Italian Geographical Society.[8][9] Dainelli published more than 600 works. Punta Dainelli, a peak in the Georgian Kazbegi Mountains of the Caucasus is named after him.[10] A fossil Trigonia (Lyriodon) dainellii was named from his collections after him by Venzo in 1945.

References

  1. [1]
    Dainelli, Giotto (1929). "The Italian Colonies". Geographical Review. 19 (3): 404–419. doi:10.2307/209148. ISSN 0016-7428. JSTOR 209148.
  2. [2]
    Dainelli, Giotto (1931). "The Agricultural Possibilities of Italian Somalia". Geographical Review. 21 (1): 56–69. doi:10.2307/208947. ISSN 0016-7428. JSTOR 208947.
  3. [3]
    Dainelli, Giotto (1932). "A Journey to the Glaciers of the Eastern Karakoram". The Geographical Journal. 79 (4): 257–268. doi:10.2307/1784325. ISSN 0016-7398. JSTOR 1784325.
  4. [4]
    Dainelli, Giotto (1932). "Italia Pass in the Eastern Karakoram". Geographical Review. 22 (3): 392–402. doi:10.2307/208969. ISSN 0016-7428. JSTOR 208969.
  5. [5]
    Dainelli, Giotto (1933). "The Geographical Work of H. R. H. the Late Duke of the Abruzzi". The Geographical Journal. 82 (1): 1–8. doi:10.2307/1786521. ISSN 0016-7398. JSTOR 1786521.
  6. [6]
    Vedovato, Giuseppe (2009). "Giotto Dainelli tra scienza e politica". Rivista di studi politici internazionali (in Italian). 76 (3): 381–421. JSTOR 42740830.
  7. [7]
    Cauli, Alberto (2019). "The Duke of Abruzzi's Noble Idea of Winning the North Pole for Italy: Popularization of the Arctic Expedition Led by Luigi Amedeo of Savoia". Terrae Incognitae. 51 (2): 153–169. doi:10.1080/00822884.2019.1633033. ISSN 0082-2884. S2CID 198421641.
  8. [8]
    Pampana, Patrizia (2014). "Giotto Dainelli (1878-1968), Geographer, Geologist, Ethnologist, Explorer, Traveller, and Photographer". Uncommon Culture. 5 (9–10): 106–113.
  9. [9]
    Vedovato, Giuseppe (1969). "Giotto Dainelli (5 aprile 1879 - 17 dicembre 1968)". Africa: Rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione dell'Istituto italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente. 24 (1): 71–74. ISSN 0001-9747. JSTOR 40757887.
  10. [10]
    Caraci, Ilaria Luzzana (1985). "Dainelli, Giotto". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Vol. 35. Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana fondata da Giovanni Treccani.
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