Paolo Andreani (27 May 1763 – 11 May 1823) was an Italian who made the first balloon flight over Italian soil. He also made an exploration around the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

in North America.

Life

Andreani was born in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

on 27 May 1763. His father was Giovanni Pietro Paolo Andreani (1705–1772) and his mother, Clementine Sormani (1733–1763). His father's family can be traced back to the aristocracy of the 13th century, and he was made a Count in 1748.Andreani Family
lombardiabeniculturali.it, Retrieved 6 August 2015 Andreani was the last of the children and they were left without a father in 1772, when they were placed in the care of a guardian. Andreani's wide range of interests started at an early age. At fifteen he was a member of the "Arcadia Literary Academy". His scientific interests prevailed when he began his balloon experiments based on the news of the flight of the

Montgolfier Brothers The Montgolfier brothers – Joseph-Michel Montgolfier (; 26 August 1740 – 26 June 1810) and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier (; 6 January 1745 – 2 August 1799) – were aviation pioneers, balloonists and paper manufacturers from the Communes o ...

. Andreani set out to repeat the feat in Italy at the Villa Sormani in Moncucco, a village which is now located in the municipality of

Brugherio Brugherio (; in ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Monza and Brianza in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan. It was established December 9, 1866 unifying the suppressed municipalities of Cassina Baraggia ...

. The Montgolfier brothers' flight took place in France on 21 November 1783.Lighter than Air The Montgolfier Brothers
University of Bristol, Retrieved 5 August 2015 In 1792, Andreani was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Flight

The first unmanned balloon flight seen by Andreani took place in 1784 when a hot air balloon built by the Gerli brothers rose a few metres into the air. The small balloon had been built by the three Gerli brothers, who were skilled builders and engineers. Andreani offered to commission a larger balloon. Thanks to its diameter of , Andreani made the first balloon flight when he was only 20. The paper-lined cloth balloon had a wickerwork passenger carrier. The hot air was created by burning

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

wood, alcohol, and

turpentine Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthine, terebenthene, terebinthine and, colloquially, turps) is a fluid obtainable by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Principall ...

. The balloon took less than four weeks to make and weighed about when it was fuelled and had three passengers aboard. The first flight took place on 25 February 1784 when Andreani, and Charles Gerli flew for 25 minutes without incident. A public demonstration was arranged for 13 March 1784 at the Villa Sormani in Moncucco (now part of the modern city of Brugherio). Joseph II, the Holy Roman Emperor was invited to watch, but he reportedly declined the invitation as he did not want to witness a suicide. Instead, the Emperor encouraged the cancellation of the flight. Despite the Emperor's assessment, a crowd of nobility and intellectuals gathered to witness Andreani and two local farmers ascend to a height of whilst the balloon travelled a distance of .Paolo Andreani (1763–1823)
Grandi Personaggi, Retrieved 5 August 2015 On March 28 Andreani received a standing ovation at

La Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...

. The Emperor joined in the celebrations by arranging for a medal to be struck to commemorate the event. Andreani appears on one side of the medal, and on the other is his balloon.Commemorative Medal
icollectors.com, Retrieved 5 August 2015 In September 1784, the first hydrogen balloon ascent in Britain took place and the aeronaut was another Italian,

Vincenzo Lunardi Vincenzo Lunardi (11 January 1754 – 1 August 1806) was a pioneering Italian aeronaut, born in Lucca. Ascents in England Vincenzo Lunardi's family were of minor Tuscan nobility from Lucca, and his father had married late in life. Vincenzo was o ...

Explorer

Andreani was now a recognized aeronaut but he also became known as a traveller and explorer. He met the geologist

Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond (17 May 174118 July 1819) was a French geologist, volcanologist and traveller. Life He was born at Montélimar. He was educated at the Jesuit's College at Lyon and afterwards at Grenoble where he studied law and ...

in Paris and rejoined him in England, where Faujas was determined to visit the Scottish island of

Staffa Staffa (, , from the Old Norse for stave or pillar island) is an island of the Inner Hebrides in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The Vikings gave it this name as its columnar basalt reminded them of their houses, which were built from vertically pl ...

to observe the rock structure there. The party consisted of Faujus, Andreani, and the American polymath

William Thornton William Thornton (May 20, 1759 – March 28, 1828) was an American physician, inventor, painter and architect who designed the United States Capitol. He also served as the first Architect of the Capitol and first Superintendent of the United Sta ...

. During the trip, Faujas determined that

Fingals Cave Fingal's Cave is a sea cave on the uninhabited island of Staffa, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, known for its natural acoustics. The National Trust for Scotland owns the cave as part of a national nature reserve. It became known as Fingal' ...

had a volcanic origin. During their return through England, they met

James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was f ...

, and they also observed

Joseph Priestly Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, Unitarian, Natural philosophy, natural philosopher, English Separatist, separatist theologian, Linguist, grammarian, multi-subject educator and Classical libera ...

's experiments which were revealing new gases from water. Andreani wrote an account of his later journey from Milan to Paris in 1784. In 1790 he set out on a five-year mission to explore lands between the United States and Canada. He went with letters of introduction to

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

James Madison James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...

, and

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

. His first journal records his meeting with the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

. Using canoes along the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

and the

Mohawk River The Mohawk River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson R ...

and around the Great Lakes, he and his group travelled over and met six different Native American peoples. He documented his contacts with the

Oneida Oneida may refer to: Native American/First Nations * Oneida people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy * Oneida language * Oneida Indian Nation, based in New York * Oneida N ...

and

Onondaga Onondaga may refer to: Native American/First Nations * Onondaga people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois League * Onondaga (village), Onondaga settlement and traditional Iroquois capit ...

peoples in particular. He carried a letter of introduction to the Mohawk leader

Joseph Brant Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant (March 1743 – November 24, 1807) was a Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York and, later, Brantford, in what is today Ontario, who was closely associated with Great Britain du ...

, but he was particularly assisted by

Samuel Kirkland Samuel Kirkland (December 1, 1741 – February 28, 1808) was a Presbyterian minister and missionary among the Oneida and Tuscarora peoples of central New York State. He was a long-time friend of the Oneida chief Skenandoa. Kirkland graduated ...

, a local missionary, as Andreani had a letter of introduction to Kirkland from General

Philip Schuyler Philip John Schuyler (; November 20, 1733 - November 18, 1804) was an American general in the American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War and a United States Senate, United States Senator from New York (state), New York. He is usually known as ...

. Andreani also wrote about meeting German, Dutch,

Shakers The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, are a Millenarianism, millenarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian sect founded in England and then organized in the Unit ...

, Iroquois, and Anglo New Yorkers. His reports on the Oneida include an illustration which is thought to be the first recorded picture of a

lacrosse stick A lacrosse stick or crosse is used to play the sport of lacrosse. Players use the lacrosse stick to handle the lacrosse ball, ball and to strike or "check" opposing players' sticks, causing them to drop the ball. The head of a lacrosse stick is rou ...

. The notes that he made are extant. They have been translated, annotated, edited, and republished in 1996 and 2006. Andreani was elected to membership in the

, an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, on January 20, 1792.

Back to Europe

Andreani returned to Europe between 1810 and 1812 via the Caribbean with the intention of returning to

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

. He had hoped to find a cure for the paralysis of his legs, but his plans were thwarted by his debtors and he was suspected by the

Austrians Austrians (, ) are the citizens and Nationality, nationals of Austria. The English term ''Austrians'' was applied to the population of Archduchy of Austria, Habsburg Austria from the 17th or 18th century. Subsequently, during the 19th century, ...

of having sympathy for the ideals of the

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

and the United States. He died on May 11, 1823, now totally disabled and in dire circumstances, as an expatriate in

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million1763 births 1823 deaths Engineers from Milan Italian explorers Italian balloonists Immigrants to the Kingdom of Sardinia Duchy of Milan people