Reports Points of interest I have been there Magazine Webcam

Giovanni Gnifetti

Profile image

Edited by:

Date: 28/12/2010
Giovanni Gnifetti was born in Alagna on 3 April 1801. He grew up in a wealthy local family and began his studies at the seminary of Gozzano where he was ordained a priest in 1823. He continued his ecclesiastical career, first becoming chaplain, then vice-parish priest and finally parish priest of Alagna in 1834.

Well integrated into the local fabric, he was appreciated by his fellow villagers for promoting education and for his work in maintaining and studying the Walser language. The era in which he lived saw the birth of the first rudimentary tourist approaches to the mountains and he was certainly a supporter of development in both social and economic terms.
 With his appointment as parish priest of Alagna also began his attraction to the imposing peak that overlooked the locality, which he began to frequent with a series of ascents that culminated with his arrival at the summit of the Signal Kuppe (4554m), which was later renamed Punta Gnifetti by his nephew Giuseppe Farinetti. This peak, well imprinted in Gnifetti's mind because of the visibility from below, was attempted three times, in 1834, 1836 and 1839. On 9 August 1842, the attempt was completed with a group of seven people including Giuseppe Farinetti and Giovanni Giordani, his nephews and two porters. When they reached the summit, they planted a red flag, the signal, from which the German name (Signal Kuppe) is derived.
 In the following years, he also completed the circumnavigation of the massif, today's Tour of Monte Rosa, and cultivated his many interests in topography and glaciology with numerous on-site measurements, which he collected in his work 'Topographical Notions of Monte Rosa'.
 In 1867, he travelled to Paris for the International Exhibition but soon fell ill and died on 20 October 1867 in Saint-Etienne. His remains were moved to Alagna and finally buried, in July 1967, on the Punta Gnifetti.
 The Punta Gnifetti (4554m), where the Margherita Hut was built, and the Gnifetti Hut (3647m) on the Gressonaro side of Monte Rosa were dedicated to him.