The Club Alpino Italiano is the senior Italian
alpine club which stages
climbing competitions, operates
alpine hut
A mountain hut is a building located high in the mountains, generally accessible only by foot, intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineers, climbers and hikers. Mountain huts are usually operated by an Alpine Club or some organization d ...
s, marks and maintains paths, and is active in protecting the Alpine
environment
Environment most often refers to:
__NOTOC__
* Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally
* Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...
.
It was founded in
Turin in 1863 by the then finance minister, and mountaineer,
Quintino Sella
Quintino Sella (; 7 July 1827 – 14 March 1884) was an Italian politician, economist and mountaineer.
Biography
Sella was born at Sella di Mosso, in the Province of Biella.
After studying engineering at Turin, he was sent in 1843 to study mi ...
; together with the
Swiss Alpine Club
The Swiss Alpine Club (german: Schweizer Alpen-Club, french: Club Alpin Suisse, it, Club Alpino Svizzero, rm, Club Alpin Svizzer) is the largest mountaineering club in Switzerland. It was founded in 1863 in Olten and it is now composed of 111 s ...
, founded in the same year, it is the second oldest Alpine Club in the world, only preceded by the
British Alpine Club. After
First World War and the
annexation of Trento and
Trieste to Italy, it absorbed the "Società degli Alpinisti Tridentini" and the "Società Alpina delle Giulie". As of December 2018, it had 322,022 members, 507 sections and 309 sub-sections; the greatest numbers of members came from
Lombardy
Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...
(88,057),
Veneto (54,948), and
Piedmont (51,396).
Its most famous achievement is the
1954 Italian Karakoram expedition to K2
Events
January
* January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany.
* January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting.
* January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The ...
that made the first successful ascent of
K2.
The CAI operates 433
mountain huts, 224
bivouacs and 106 smaller huts and shelters throughout the
Italian Alps, for an overall capacity of over 23,500 beds.
Publishing activity
Among many other publications the Club Alpino Italiano, along with
Touring Club Italiano, published between 1908 and 2013 the ''
Guida dei Monti d'Italia'' (in English ''Guidebook to the Italian mountains''), a series of guidebooks covering all the mountain ranges of Italy.
Influence on Italian Army uniforms
Italian military troops adopted a grey-green uniform during World War I. Luigi Brioschi, president of the Milanese section of the C.A.I. (Italian Alpine Club) in 1905 introduced a combat uniform more suitable for a modern war, replacing the showy uniforms of the Royal Sardinian Army. Brioschi demonstrated that the grey uniforms were less visible by opponent snipers, therefore, the project was financed.
References
External links
Official website
{{Authority control