Alessandra Boarelli (Turin, 1838 – Verzuolo, 1908) was an Italian mountaineer and, in 1864, became the first woman to summit Monviso in the Alps.

Biography

She was born in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, Italy, the daughter of Felice Re. After marrying Emilio-Giovanni Boarelli, a man from a noble family, as well as mayor of

Cuneo Cuneo (; ; ; ) is a city and in Piedmont, Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the fourth largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres (1,804 ft) in the south-west of Piedmont, at the confluence of the ri ...

, she moved to nearby

Verzuolo Verzuolo is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italy, Italian region Piedmont, located about southwest of Turin and about north of Cuneo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 6,379 and an area of .All demographi ...

where the couple had three daughters, Isabella, Luisa and Clemente-Maria (born 1870). The family lived close to the French border in western Italy, located in the Italian region of

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

. The area is dominated by

Monte Viso Monte Viso or Monviso (; ; or simply ) is the highest mountain of the Cottian Alps, located in Piedmont, Italy, close to the French border. Monte Viso is well known for its pyramid-like shape. Because it is higher than all its neighbouring peak ...

(commonly shortened by Italians to Monviso), the highest mountain of the

Cottian Alps The Cottian Alps (; ; ) are a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps. They form the border between France (Hautes-Alpes and Savoie) and Italy (Piedmont). The Fréjus Road Tunnel and Fréjus Rail Tunnel between Modane and Susa, Ital ...

, the southwestern portion of the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

Boarelli first attempted to climb Monviso in 1863, hoping to beat a similar attempt by a team headed by

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 min ...

by a few days, but she had to turn back because of bad weather. The Sella-led team then succeeded in their climb becoming the third team, and the first Italians, to reach the summit. This was two years after the first successful ascent was made by a group of mountaineers led by William Mathews from England. When Boarelli tried again the following year, she became the first woman to reach the Monviso peak on 16 August 1864. Accompanying her on the expedition were: the fourteen-year-old daughter of a Casteldelfino notary, Cecilia Filia, the parish priest of Casteldelfino, Don Carlo Galliano, and two other climbers.

Dedications

* A bivouac was dedicated to Boarelli in 2005. It is located at the foot of the southern slope of

Monviso Monte Viso or Monviso (; ; or simply ) is the highest mountain of the Cottian Alps, located in Piedmont, Italy, close to the French border. Monte Viso is well known for its pyramid-like shape. Because it is higher than all its neighbouring peak ...

, near the Forciolline lakes, at an altitude of about . It's on the access road to Monviso from Castello di Pontechianale. * In Verzuolo, where Boarelli lived, her accomplishment was remembered with an exhibition titled, "The woman and the mountain 1860-1960." It was placed in the town's Palazzo Drago and displayed mementos and photographs of the climber as well as other female mountaineers.

References

External sources

* Cottino, Linda. ''Nina. Devi tornare sul Viso. Storia di Alessandra Boarelli, la prima sul Monviso''. (in Italian) Italy, Fusta, 2019. {{DEFAULTSORT:Boarelli, Alessandra 1838 births 1908 deaths Italian mountain climbers Italian female climbers Sportspeople from Turin People from Verzuolo