Renato Alessandrini (August 11, 1890 - May 25 1928) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

explorer who perished during the

polar Polar may refer to: Geography Polar may refer to: * Geographical pole, either of two fixed points on the surface of a rotating body or planet, at 90 degrees from the equator, based on the axis around which a body rotates *Polar climate, the cli ...

expedition of the

airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

Italia Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

''.

Biographical notes

Alessandrini was born in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. From 1914 he worked as rigger at the Stabilimento Costruzioni Aeronautiche, an aircraft factory of the Italian Army Engineers in Rome. Then, after the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, he worked at the airport of

Ciampino Ciampino () is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Lazio, Italy. It was a ''frazione'' of Marino until 1974, when it became a ''comune''; it obtained the city ( it, città) status (being therefore officially known as Città ...

where Italian military

airships An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In earl ...

were assembled and equipped.

North Pole

Alessandrini participated as rigger and helmsman to the first two historic airship flights to the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

, being part of the crew of the ("Amundsen–Ellsworth–Nobile Transpolar Flight") which was the first airship to fly over the North Pole on May 12, 1926 and the first aircraft to fly over the polar ice cap between Europe and America, and also of the , which made three flights over unexplored arctic regions and flew over the pole on May 24, 1928. The date of the death of Alessandrini is not known with certainty; he was lost on May 25, 1928, when the ''Italia'' crashed in the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

during its flight back from the North Pole.Bendrick G. A., & Alessandrini S. (2019). No second-in-command: human fatigue and the crash of the airship Italia revisited. Polar Research, 38. https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3467

Honors

Italian Honors

In 1924 Alessandrini had a formal commendation and was decorated with the Silver Medal of the Aero Club of Italy for having, on 18 April 1924, returned the aircraft N-1 to landing after that a gust of wind had torn it from the mooring at Ciampino and dragged it away.

Norwegian Honors

On October 7, 1926, the King of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Haakon VII Haakon VII (; born Prince Carl of Denmark; 3 August 187221 September 1957) was the King of Norway from November 1905 until his death in September 1957. Originally a Danish prince, he was born in Copenhagen as the son of the future Frederick VI ...

granted to Alessandrini the Cross of Knight of the

Order of St. Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav ( no, Den Kongelige Norske Sankt Olavs Orden; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav II ...

, as a participant in the expedition of the airship ''Norge''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alessandrini, Renato 1890 births 1928 deaths Italian polar explorers Order of Saint Olav