Monday, August 7, 2017

Italian in Africa: Prince Luigi Amadeo

Annamaria in Absentia....Again!

Forgive me, my friends and readers.  That book that was due July 31 is still scheduled for early December.  I am now a week late.  Three weeks ago, I bragged to my publisher that I never missed a deadline.  What hubris! Given my personal circumstances she is being patient.  I ask the same of you.  In the meanwhile, here is the my post from 2014 about the inspiration for a new series character introduced on the pages sitting next to me, demanding the final read through.  



The first time I encountered his name, it was a passing reference, which caught my eye and posed a question.  The words on the page were “Duca degli Abruzzi” and I wondered, “Who was he and what was he doing in Africa?”  I am so glad I bothered to find out, for now his life has inspired a character and a whole subplot in my work in progress.

Let me tell you about the real guy.

Luigi Amedeo Giuseppe Maria Fernando Francesco di Savoia was an Italian in search of L’aventura! An explorer and mountaineer and a cousin of King Victor Emmanuel III, he eschewed the life of luxury he might have had at court to scale the highest peaks in North America and Africa, and nearly conquered K2.  He also led an expedition that set records in exploring the Arctic.



Most of the aristocrats who settled in Africa were British second sons in need of a place where they could live a sumptuous life for little money.  The Duke of Abruzzi was a third son, but he was drawn to Africa for a great deal more than its inexpensive but tony life style.

Prince Luigi was born in Madrid in 1873, while his father,Prince Amadeo of Savoy was briefly King Amadeo of Spain.   Papa abdicated his throne and returned to Italy when Luigi was three years old—at the time Uncle Umberto became Italy’s king.  The title Duca delgi Abruzzi was created for the little guy.

Luigi Amedeo started his world travels in his twentieth year: going to Italian Africa in Eritrea, to Canada, and back to Africa this time to Italian Somaliland.

After developing his mountaineering chops on Mount Blanc and Monte Rosa in the Alps, he began to look for new peaks to conquer.  He was the first to scale Mount Saint Elias on the US-Canadian border.  The New York Times reported the exploits of Luigi and his team, including detailed descriptions of the mirage city they thought they saw on the glacier.



Perhaps that was where this Italian fell in love with ice.  In 1899, he organized an expedition to the North Pole and made it further than anyone had before.  They went in winter and planned to cross the frozen sea by dogsled.  Along the way, the Duke lost two fingers to frostbite and had to let the others go on without him.  They eventually got to 86°34’, about forty kilometers closer to the pole than any other group had ever gotten.



In 1906, the Duke returned to Africa, this time to Uganda where he climbed every mountain in sight—sixteen summits in all.  One of them still bears the name—Mount Luigi di Savoia.  Three years later, he took an expedition to K2 and very nearly made it to the top.  The route to the summit of the second highest mountain in the world is still called the Abruzzi Route.  Luigi’s attempt of K2 set the then world record for altitude.



The Duke became an Admiral in the Italian Navy in 1911 and commanded the Adriatic fleet for the Italians in World War I.  After the war he went back to Somaliland and pretty much never left Africa again.  Early on, he was an ally of Mussolini, but once Il Duce showed his real stripes, the Duke gave up on him and spent his time in Africa building roads, dams, schools, hospitals, churches and mosques.

Kitty


I am, as I write this, busy inventing a character based on him.  My guy will not be Luigi himself, but a fictional version that has his regal connections and his sense of adventure.   And something like Luigi’s love life, which was no more staid than any other aspect of his experiences.  As a young man, the factual Duke fell in love with Kitty Elkins, daughter of US Senator Stephen Elkins.  But then King Victor Emmanuel III refused permission for his cousin to marry a commoner, Luigi’s brother stepped in, and in true Italian tradition played the family trump card and convinced the Duke to give up Kitty.  He eventually married Antoinette Brizzi, the daughter of a wealthy Italian nobleman who was famous for the wines from his estate.


After his wife’s death, Luigi married a Somali woman—Faduma Ali.  He died in 1933 in the Somali town he had founded, Village of the Duke of Abruzzi, and was buried there on the banks of the Shebelle River.



Lots of explorers who achieved less are much more famous.    I wonder why.

Oh, and by the way, please take note.  He wrote several books!


20 comments:

  1. They promoted themselves, is my guess. Even in the old days that was a full-time occupation that could get in the way of what we normal people think of as a satisfying life.

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    1. I think you are right, Kate. Sounds like the present-day life a writer.

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  2. The answer to your conundrum is two words: Kim Kardassian. Or try these two: Paris Hilton. Or... no, I think I'll stop there. I'm getting nauseous already. Fame has only a fleeting cause/effect relationship with achievement. Proof (as if it were needed) that there is no justice in this universe.

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    1. EvKa, I have heard said that people enjoy reading mysteries because they live in a world where justice is so rare and is often easier to find in mystery stories. I guess that goes double for a mystery writer.

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  3. I've just fallen in love with Prince Luigi... but because of those gorgeous medals! Alas, the woman who falls in love with THIS guy!!! Thelma Straw in Manhattan

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  4. Me, too, Thelma. If he had fallen for me, the king might have rejected me because my father's father was a coal miner. Or he may have embraced me because my mother's grandmother was a baron. Qui Sa?

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  5. Dang auto correct. I was trying to type grandfather.

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  6. im puzzled as to why there is no trace of faduma ali anywhere , I'm so intrigued by his life story..

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    1. Anon, I have no more information to share about Faduma Ali, but I think it not unusual that women drew little attention in those hyper male-dominated times. And an African woman from an Islamic tradition all the more so. What we do know is that the prince married her. A gesture seldom made by any white European man, much less a prince, toward to an African woman. I too wish I knew the circumstances. And more about her.

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  7. I have faith in you Annamaria! You'll get that book done!

    And I love your history of the Duke of Abruzzi. It's timely, too - I just finished (yet another) mountaineering book about an ascent of K2 along the Abruzzi Ridge.

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    1. Susan, I am doing my best. Mountaineering books! Really? You have to tell me more about that. Did that book tell you anything about my pal Luigi and his attempt. The guy fascinates me.

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  8. No problem! Your posts are always worth reading twice!

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    1. Thank you, Michael. What a lovely thing to say. You must be in a good mood, considering your upcoming adventure. I expect to see MANY photos!!!!

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  9. Me in a good mood? I'd say so! I even have my next blog written and scheduled for the 17th!

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  10. I heard all the news from your dinner companion of earlier in the week, so no need to blog currently for my sake, sis. Besides, I sort of like this guy.

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    1. That delightful dinner companion will be informing you of the movie we are going to see. Etc. Etc.

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  11. She already has, but I ruined if tor her by telling her how it ends. :)

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  12. I don't think he married Faduma

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  13. All of my life, I grew up with a deep, family secret. It was really spoken about, but it was in bedded in my memory bank since childhood. I know the story is true. I am the great granddaughter of The Duke Of The Abruzzi.
    I know the story is true because when I was in Rome in the early 1970s, I was driven to a Palazzo in Rome. It was the home of Princess Orsini of the House of Savoy. I had dinner with the Princess and my cousins and I slipped and a huge very comfortable bed.
    They begged me to stay. They wanted me to live with them. I fit in so naturally. If I knew then what I know now I would have stayed. I’ve always had that deep connection with the ancestral DNA. My mother always said to me I don’t know why you can’t stay in one place you have to move around all the time. I was very adventurous and curious and I climbed the mountains of my dreams. Now I know where it comes from. My great grandfather, The Duke Of The Abruzzi.

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