Alberto La Marmora

Alberto La Marmora as general

Alberto La Marmora as a scientist

Alberto Ferrero, Count of La Maromora , also Alberto Ferrero Della Marmora or, among others, Alberto (Ferrero) (Conte) de La Marmora (born April 7, 1789 in Turin ; † March 18, 1863 ibid) was a Piedmontese general , senator and Naturalist . His scientific activity was concentrated on the island of Sardinia , to which he made a great contribution. The highest mountain in Sardinia, Punta La Marmora , is named after him.

Life

Alberto La Marmora came from the old noble family Ferrero Della Marmora from Biella in Piedmont . His mother Raffaella Argentera Di Bersezio also came from a noble family. Two of his younger brothers, Alessandro and Alfonso , played an important role as generals and politicians during the Risorgimento . The father Francesco Celestino was a professional officer, his uncle Filippo Fieschi della Marmora viceroy of Sardinia. The House of Savoy , ruling in Turin, acquired the island in 1720, and with it the royal dignity , which is why the continental possessions of Savoy , Nice , Piedmont and later Liguria were combined under the name of the Kingdom of Sardinia . After the kingdom, with the exception of Sardinia, was annexed to Napoleonic France in 1802 , Alberto entered the military school of Fontainebleau on August 14, 1806, a year after the death of his father, from which he graduated in April 1807 as a second lieutenant in the infantry and then entered served in a French regiment . In 1808 he took part in a campaign in Calabria , in 1809 he joined the army of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy , with which he fought in Veneto that same year . He took part in the battles at Wagram , Lützen , Bautzen and Torgau and was personally admitted to the Legion of Honor by Napoleon on July 22, 1813 .

After the end of Napoleonic rule, the Piedmontese army took him over as a lieutenant in 1814 , and from 1816 to 1821 he served as a captain . In 1816 he had to exchange his French decorations for the Military Order of Savoy ; only in 1850 did he get his French medals back. In 1819 Alberto La Marmora made his first trip to Sardinia to carry out ornithological studies there and to hunt. Further trips followed in 1820 and 1821. Suspected of conspiracy after a revolt against the Restoration , he was temporarily released from his official duties at the end of 1821 and sent to Sardinia in 1822, which, however, did him a favor. In 1825 La Marmora was returned to active military service, promoted to major in 1829 , lieutenant colonel in 1834 and shortly thereafter to colonel . During these years he made numerous trips to Sardinia, where he dealt with archeology , geology , ethnography , flora and fauna . Much of the knowledge about the island in this regard can be traced back to Francesco Cetti , a professor at the University of Sassari , who was born in Mannheim in 1726 , and then to a large extent to La Marmora, who expanded Cetti's work. Over time, La Marmora published more than 50 scientific papers on Sardinia, mostly in French, which were read more abroad than on the island itself. Among the best-known works are Voyage en Sardaigne de 1819 à 1825 ou description statistique, physique et politique de cette île (Paris, 1826), a work that in the 1857 edition comprised two volumes and an atlas, and L'itinéraire de l 'île de Sardaigne (3 volumes, 1860, Italian 1868). He worked primarily with the director of the Zoological Museum at the University of Turin , Franco Andrea Bonelli , and later also with his successor Carlo Giuseppe Gené , to whom La Marmora sent numerous captured or hunted animals for their collection.

As early as 1826, La Marmora had been working on a topographical map of Sardinia on a scale of 1: 250,000 on behalf of the Piedmontese General Staff , two sheets of which appeared in 1845. It remained the official map of Sardinia for over half a century, until the new addition of Italy to the Military Geographic Institute was completed. Alberto La Marmora also worked on the island with oceanography and surveying the coastal waters . His work played a role in the planning of the Suez Canal . In 1840 he became major general and head of the Naval School in Genoa .

In 1848 he took part in the first Italian War of Independence , in which he organized the deployment of Venetian volunteers. Appointed Senator and Lieutenant General in 1849 , La Marmora returned to Sardinia as Governor and remained there as such until his retirement in 1851. After that, he continued to devote himself to the island, politics, and his activities at various scientific societies, institutes and academies as well of writing.

Alberto La Marmora died in Turin in 1863. He was buried in Biella in the crypt of the Church of San Sebastiano .

literature

• Paola Casana Testore:  Ferrero Della Marmora, Alberto. In: Fiorella Bartoccini (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 47:  Ferrero-Filonardi. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1997.

Web links

• Information on the websites of the Italian Senate (it.)