Virtual International Authority File
The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of several national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. Discussion about having a common international authority started in the late 1990s. After a series of failed attempts to come up with a unique common authority file, the new idea was to link existing national authorities; this would present all the benefits of a common file without requiring a large investment of time and expense in the process. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library and the OCLC on August 6, 2003; the Bibliothèque nationale de France joined the project on October 5, 2007. The project transitioned to being a service of the OCLC on April 4, 2012; the aim is to link the national authority files to a single virtual authority file. In this file, identical records from the different data sets are linked together. A VIAF record receives a standard data number, contains the primary "see" and "see also" records from the original records, refers to the original authority records.
The data are available for research and data exchange and sharing. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting protocol; the file numbers are being added to Wikipedia biographical articles and are incorporated into Wikidata. VIAF's clustering algorithm is run every month; as more data are added from participating libraries, clusters of authority records may coalesce or split, leading to some fluctuation in the VIAF identifier of certain authority records. Authority control Faceted Application of Subject Terminology Integrated Authority File International Standard Authority Data Number International Standard Name Identifier Wikipedia's authority control template for articles Official website VIAF at OCLC
Italians
The Italians are a Romance ethnic group and nation native to the Italian peninsula and its neighbouring insular territories. Most Italians share a common culture, ancestry or language. All Italian nationals are citizens of the Italian Republic, regardless of ancestry or nation of residence and may be distinguished from people of Italian descent without Italian citizenship and from ethnic Italians living in territories adjacent to the Italian Peninsula without Italian citizenship; the majority of Italian nationals are speakers of a regional variety thereof. However, many of them speak another regional or minority language native to Italy. In 2017, in addition to about 55 million Italians in Italy, Italian-speaking autonomous groups are found in neighbouring nations: a quarter million are in Switzerland, a large population is in France, the entire population of San Marino, there are smaller groups in Slovenia and Croatia in Istria and Dalmatia; because of the wide-ranging diaspora, about 5 million Italian citizens and nearly 80 million people of full or partial Italian ancestry live outside their own homeland, which include the 62.5% of Argentina's population, 1/3 of Uruguayans, 40% of Paraguayans, 15% of Brazilians, people in other parts of Europe bordering Italy, the Americas and the Middle East.
Italians have influenced and contributed to diverse fields, notably the arts and music and technology, cuisine, jurisprudence and business both abroad and worldwide. Furthermore, Italian people are known for their localism, both regionalist and municipalist; the Latin name Italia according to Strabo's Geographica was used by Greeks to indicate the southwestern tip of the Italian peninsula, corresponding to the current region of Calabria, from the strait of Messina to the line connecting the gulf of Salerno and gulf of Taranto. It most originates with Oscan Víteliú, meaning "land of young cattle"; the bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. The name was extended to include all the Italian peninsula south of the Rubicon, still by the end of the 1st century BC, to all of the peninsula and beyond. Latin Italicus as a substantive meaning "a man of Italy" is first recorded in Pliny the Elder, Letters 9.23.
The adjective italianus, from which are derived the Italian name of the Italians is medieval. The Italian peninsula was divided into a multitude of tribal or ethnic territory prior to the Roman conquest of Italy in the 3rd century BC. After a series of wars between Greeks and Etruscans, the Latins, with Rome as their capital, gained the ascendancy by 272 BC, completed the conquest of the Italian peninsula by 218 BC; this period of unification was followed by one of conquest in the Mediterranean, beginning with the First Punic War against Carthage. In the course of the century-long struggle against Carthage, the Romans conquered Sicily and Corsica. In 146 BC, at the conclusion of the Third Punic War, with Carthage destroyed and its inhabitants enslaved, Rome became the dominant power in the Mediterranean; the process of Italian unification, the associated Romanization, culminated in 88 BC, when, in the aftermath of the Social War, Rome granted its Italian allies full rights in Roman society, extending Roman citizenship to all Italic peoples.
From its inception, Rome was a republican city-state, but four famous civil conflicts destroyed the republic: Lucius Cornelius Sulla against Gaius Marius and his son, Julius Caesar against Pompey, Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus against Mark Antony and Octavian, Mark Antony against Octavian. Octavian, the final victor, was accorded the title of Augustus by the Senate and thereby became the first Roman emperor. Augustus created for the first time an administrative region called Italia with inhabitants called "Italicus populus", stretching from the Alps to Sicily: for this reason historians like Emilio Gentile called him Father of Italians. In the 1st century BC, Italia was still a collection of territories with different political statuses; some cities, called municipia, had some independence from Rome, while others, the coloniae, were founded by the Romans themselves. Around 7 BC, Augustus divided Italy into eleven regiones. During the Crisis of the Third Century the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasions, military anarchy and civil wars, hyperinflation.
In 284, emperor Diocletian restored political stability. The importance of Rome declined; the seats of the Caesars were Augusta Treverorum for Constantius Chlorus and Sirmium (on the Riv
Ardito Desio
Count Ardito Desio was an Italian explorer, mountain climber and cartographer. Desio was born in Palmanova, Italy, he attended the Middle Schools of Udine and Cividale and the University of Florence, graduating with a degree in Natural Sciences. During the First World War served in the military corps of the alpini and was captured by the Austrians on Mount Pasubio, he made advanced studies in Geology at the same University from 1921 to 1923, was assistant in that matter in that university, as well as in those of Pavia and Milan. He was lecturer in Physical Geography and Paleontology, Professor of Geology at the University of Milan, Applied Geology at the Engineering School of Milan. Concurrent to these positions, he served as a consultant geologist for the Edison Company for hydroelectric plants in Italy, Switzerland, Greece and Brazil, the same capacity for the Public Power Corporation of Greece. In 1973 he became Professor Emeritus at the University of Milan. Desio began geological investigations into certain areas of the Alps and Apennines in 1920.
The following year, he made some exploratory trips to the Dodecanese Islands. He published a volume on the geology of that archipelago in the Italian Geological Survey. In 1926, Desio organized and led a geographical and geological expedition to the Oasis of Jaghbub, in the Libyan Desert; the scientific results of these investigations are published in four volumes by the Royal Geographical Society of Italy, the organization that sponsored the expedition. From 1930 to 1933 he led some geological and geographical expeditions through the hinterland of Libya, including the crossing of the Sahara desert with a large caravan of camels from the Mediterranean seaboard as far as the frontier of Sudan and back through Fezzan, across the Libyan Sahara; the report of this expedition was published in four volumes. In 1935 and 1936 he further explored the Fezzan, from both the geological and hydrological point of view, the Tibesti massif in the Central Sahara. From 1936 to 1940, he organized and directed the Libyan Geological Survey, which included research into mining and artesian waters by order of the Government of Libya.
Desio discovered in 1938 natural oil in the subsurface of Libya. In the same years he discovered an exploitable deposit of Carnallite in the Oasis of Marada, rich artesian aquifers in some zones of Northern Libya, which gave a strong impulse to the development of the agriculture. Further exploration in this region was however halted by the outbreak of World War II. During the winters of 1937 and 1938, Desio explored Wallega and the Benishangul-Gumuz Region in Eastern Ethiopia, both from the point of view of the geology and mining, discovering some new deposits of gold and molybdenite. In 1940 he directed an expedition to Tibesti, employing automobiles and aircraft; the scientific reports were published in a volume by the Royal Geographical Society of Italy. In the same year he directed a mining exploration in Northern Albania. In 1929 he was a member of the Italian Geographical Expedition to Karakoram, under the leadership of the Duke of Spoleto, in the capacity of geographer and geologist. On this occasion he covered Kashmir and Baltistan in Northern Pakistan, developed his scientific activity in the valleys of Baltoro and Panmah glaciers on the south slope of the range, in the Sarpo Laggo and Shaksgam valleys, between the Karakorum and the Aghil ranges, the Abruzzi valley climbing, for the first time, the Conway Pass.
The results of this expedition are contained in a volume, published under the aegis of the Royal Geographical Society and the Italian Alpine Club in 1936. During the summer of 1933, Desio led an expedition to Iran; the expedition climbed some of the highest peaks of the Zagros Range including development of a new route to the summit of Iran's highest peak, Mount Damāvand. He published some scientific reports on this trip. From 1952 to 1955, he led 3 expeditions to the Karakorum Hindu Kush; the first was a preliminary expedition. The results of the studies carried out during these expeditions have been published in many papers and more developed in 8 volumes of scientific character. During the summer of 1961, he led an expedition to Badakhshan and Katagan with a geological and geophysical program, in the summer of 1962 he led another expedition to the Karakorum Range, exploring geologically the upper Hunza valley and the Chogo Lumba, the Basha and the Hoh Lumba glacier valleys. In 1967 and 1968 he carried out geohydrological investigations in the Mu River basin for a UN irrigation project, while in the 1970 he developed a geological study in Mindanao.
In northern Pakistan Desio carried out three other geological expeditions during the summers of 1971, 1973 and 1975. By invitation of Academia Sinica, in June 1980, after a scientific symposium in Beijing, Desio crossed Southern Tibet with a team of Chinese scientists. In 1989 he planned and realized a permanent high altitude scientific laboratory-observatory in a prefabricated glass and aluminum pyramid-shaped structure, installed at an altitude of 5,050 m at the base of Mount Everest; the aim was to grant multidisciplinary scientific investigations at high quote. The “Pyramid” is still in existence and the laboratory still works. In 1961, he was invited by the Nationa
Alpini
The Alpini, are a specialised mountain warfare infantry corps of the Italian Army. They are organized in two operational brigades, which are subordinated to the Alpine Troops Headquarters. Established in 1872, the Alpini are the oldest active mountain infantry in the world, their original mission was to protect Italy's northern mountain border with France and Austria-Hungary. In 1888 the Alpini deployed on their first mission abroad, in Africa, a continent where they returned on several occasions and during various wars of the Kingdom of Italy, they emerged during World War I as they fought a three-year campaign on the Alps against Austro-Hungarian Kaiserjäger and the German Alpenkorps in what has since become known as the "War in snow and ice". During World War II, the Alpini fought alongside the Axis forces across the Eastern Front and in the Balkans Campaigns. After the end of the Cold War, the Italian Army was reorganised in the 1990s. Three out of five Alpini brigades and many support units were disbanded.
The Alpini are deployed in Afghanistan. To honour the Alpini a park in the northern Illawarra suburb of Tarrawanna in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia was dedicated to the brave soldiers of the Alpini. In 1872, Captain Giuseppe Perrucchetti published a study in the May edition of the Military Review. In the study, he proposed to assign the defence of mountain borders of the established Kingdom of Italy to soldiers recruited locally. Indeed, thanks to their knowledge of the surroundings and personal attachment to the area, they would be capable and better motivated defenders. Perrucchetti drew on the work of Lieutenant General Agostino Ricci, who in 1868 had organised exercises in the mountains to assess the feasibility of a specialised mountain infantry corps. Five months after Perrucchetti's article, the first 15 Alpini companies were formed by Royal decree no. 1056. The units became active on October 15, 1872, making the Alpini the oldest active Mountain Infantry in the world. At first the Alpini were organized as a militia, capable of defending Italy's northern mountainous borders.
Austria's surrender in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 resulted in Italy annexing the province of Venetia, the northern borders of which coincided in large part with the Alpine Arch. Prior to gaining the new northern borders, homeland defence was based on the so-called Quadrilatero strategy; that outdated strategy, ignored the geopolitics of the new Italian Kingdom. It called for primary defence of the Po Valley region farther to the southwest, but left the Alpine region undefended. Recruiting Italy's mountain valleys locals and organising them into a special corps was indeed an innovative idea, they possessed superior knowledge of mountain territory and greatest adaptability to Alpine conditions. At the beginning, the mountain regions were divided into seven military districts, each commanded by an Officer and home to at least two Alpini companies, each consisting of 120 personnel. Soldiers were equipped with the Vetterli 1870 rifle. In 1873 nine more companies were added, thus totalling 24. In 1875, the companies doubled in size, having 250 soldiers and 5 officers, which were organised into 7 Alpini battalions.
Each battalion was named after one of the seats of the seven military districts: 1° Cuneo, 2° Mondovi, 3° Torino, 4° Torino, 5° Como, 6° Treviso, 7° UdineIn 1877, five Alpini mountain artillery batteries were formed and - in the following year - the Alpini had grown to 36 mountain infantry companies organised into 10 battalions. On November 1, 1882, the Alpini organisation doubled in size to 72 companies and a total of 20 Alpini battalions; the latter plus 8 Alpini mountain artillery batteries were now organized into six numbered Alpini regiments and two Alpini mountain artillery brigades. Each battalion was named after the area it was required to defend in case of war: The numbers used earlier to distinguish the battalions were dropped while - at the same time - the companies were now numbered from 1 to 72. In order to distinguish the battalions and non-commissioned officers were issued thread tufts of various colors, which were added to the Cappello Alpino: white for the First Bn. red for the Second Bn. and Green for the Third Bn. of each regiment.
Special Bn. and Fourth Bn. were issued blue tufts. Soldiers of the Mountain Artillery units were issued a green tuft with a black patch in the middle onto which the number of the battery was written in yellow numbers. On June 7, 1883, the green flames collar patch was introduced, thus making the Alpini a specialty within the Italian infantry corps; the Cappello Alpino, with its black raven feather, was introduced at that time. The distinctive headdress led the Alpini to be nicknamed "The Black feathers". Officers hats had the black feather replaced with a white eagle feather. At first, the hat was a black felt hat, but as soon as the new green-grey uniform was adopted in 1909 the hat was changed to the distinctive grey felt still in service today; the Alpini were distinguished by the green cuffs on the dark blue tunics worn for full dress and barrack dress until 1915, by green piping on their light blue/grey trousers. When grey-green service uniforms were trialled by the Alpini in 1906, before being adopted by the entire army in 1909, the distinctive green collar patches and typical headdress were retained.
The materials and equipment of each battalion were stored in the major village of a specific area they were required to defend in case of war. Soldiers of a battalion were only
Glossary of climbing terms
This page describes terms and jargon related to climbing and mountaineering. These terms can vary between different English-speaking countries, so phrases described here may be specific to, for example, the US and UK. Abalakov thread A type of abseiling point used in winter and ice climbing. Known as V-thread. Ablation zone The area of a glacier where yearly melting exceeds the annual snow fall. Abseil The process by which a climber can descend a fixed rope. Known as Rappel. ACR An anchor method similar to a cordelette but, dynamically equalizing, it employs a rappel ring. Add-On A climbing game, played indoors, were climbers take turns creating a route adding two moves at a time. Climbers play until they reach a certain amount of falls. Adze A thin blade mounted perpendicular to the handle on an ice axe that can be used for chopping footholds. Aid climbing A style of climbing in which standing on or pulling oneself up via devices attached to fixed or placed protection is used to make upward progress.
Alpine climbing Generally climbing in the mountains. Includes a mixture of ice climbing and dry-tooling. Alpine style means carrying all gear in a backpack for multi day climbs. Alpine knee To use your knee as a way to gain ground on a climb. Alpine start To make an efficient start on a long climb by packing all your gear the previous evening and starting early in the morning well before sunrise. Altitude sickness A medical condition, observed at high altitudes. Known as Acute mountain sickness, or AMS. Typical symptoms include nausea. Symptoms dissipate by reducing altitude. American death triangle An anchor, created by connecting a closed loop of cord or webbing between two points of protection, suspending the rope from a carabiner clipped to only one strand of said anchor; this creates a triangular shape in the webbing or cord, which places massively multiplied inward forces on the protection, making it a dangerous, ineffective anchor. Anchor An arrangement of one or more pieces of gear set up to support the weight of a belay or top rope.
Approach The path or route to the start of a technical climb. Although this is a walk or, at most, a scramble it is as hazardous as the climb itself. Arête A small ridge-like feature or a sharp outward facing corner on a steep rock face Arête, a narrow ridge of rock formed by glacial erosion A method of indoor climbing, in which one is able to use such a corner as a hold. See dihedral. Arm bar locking it into place. Arqué Used to describe crimping. In this position the first set of knuckles are hyperextended and the second have a sharp angle of about 90 degrees; this combines muscular effort with soft tissue tensions. When used this position has been known to over-stress the tendons in fingers and lead to injuries. Ascend To climb a rope using aid device. Ascender A device for ascending on a rope. Aspect The direction in which a slope faces. ATC A proprietary belay device manufactured by Black Diamond. Has become common term for any tubular belay devices. ATC stood for'Air Traffic Controller'. Automatic belay A fast method for setting up a two-point anchor in sport climbing, using the climbing rope to attach to the anchor points.
Austrian floss When a climber falls in a manner where the rope that they are attached to runs through their legs. "B"-grade A grading system for bouldering problems, invented by John Gill. Now superseded by the "V" grading system. Bachar ladder A piece of training equipment used to improve core strength. Back-clipping A hazardous mistake that can be made while lead climbing; the rope is clipped into a quickdraw such that the leader's end runs underneath the quickdraw as opposed to over top of it. If the leader falls, the rope may fold directly over the gate causing it to open and release the rope from the carabiner. Back-step Stepping on a hold in such a way that the outside edge of your shoe touches the rock, while your hips are turned to the side in such a way that the outside of your hip faces into the rock. Bail To retreat from a climb. Ball Nut A type of aid protection consisting of a movable ball. Barn-door If all points of contact climber has with the wall are on a straight axis, or close to it, his body might swing uncontrollably downward around this axis, like a door on a hinge.
Bashie A copperhead intended for pounding into a crackBelay To protect a roped climber from falling by passing the rope through, or around, any type of friction enhancing belay device. Before belay devices were invented, the rope was passed around the belayer's hips to create friction. Belay device A mechanical device used to create friction. Many types of belay devices exist, including ATC, Reverso, Sticht plate and tuber; some belay devices may be used as descenders. A Munter hitch can sometimes be used instead of a belay device. Belay Loop The strongest point on the harness; this is the loop. You should not tie anything around the belay loop such as sling; the belay loop will wear more quickly. Belay off Called by belayer to confirm belay has been removed from climbing rope. Response to Off belay request. Belay on Called by belayer to confirm belay has been applied to climbing rope. Response to On belay request. Belay slave Someone that volunteers for, or is tricked into, repeated belaying duties without partaking in any of the actual c
Walter Bonatti
Walter Bonatti was an Italian mountain climber and journalist. He was noted for his many climbing achievements, including a solo climb of a new route on the south-west pillar of the Aiguille du Dru in August 1955, the first ascent of Gasherbrum IV in 1958 and in 1965 the first solo climb in winter of the North face of the Matterhorn on the mountain's centenary year of its first ascent. After his extraordinary solo climb on the Matterhorn Bonatti announced his retirement from professional climbing at the age of 35 and after 17 years of climbing activity, he authored many mountaineering books and spent the remainder of his career travelling off the beaten track as a reporter for the Italian magazine Epoca. He died on 13 September 2011 of pancreatic cancer in Rome aged 81, was survived by his life partner, the actress Rossana Podestà. Famed for his climbing panache, he pioneered little known and technically difficult climbs in the Alps and Patagonia. Born in a working-class family, his father was a fabric merchant, Bonatti took to gymnastics through a sport association in Monza.
The physical strength and balance he developed here would prove to be crucial skills for Bonatti as a climber. At age 18, Bonatti started climbing on the Grigna, a rocky mountain of the Italian Prealps, where he spent the summer of 1948 climbing intensively. During 1949, within a year of starting to climb, he made the first repetition of the Oppio-Colnaghi-Guidi Route, a challenging climb on the South Face of the Croz dell'Altissimo 250 metres long and rated UIAA V+. Soon after followed the climb of the Bramani-Castiglioni Route on the North-West face of Piz Badile, a second repetition of the Ratti-Vitali route on the West Face of the Aiguille Noire de Peuterey, a rocky mountain in the Italian part of the Mont Blanc massif and the fourth ascent of the Walker Spur on the North Face of the Grandes Jorasses in only two days and with limited equipment; this last route had been climbed for the first time in 1938 by famous climber Riccardo Cassin and consists of 1,200 metres of rock-climbing with UIAA difficulty of IV and V and one step of VI+.
The climb of the Walker Spur by the Cassin route is exposed to stone-fall and ranks together with the North Face of the Eiger as one of the major climbs achieved in the Alps between the two world wars. Bonatti had limited financial means and his first climbs were done with basic equipment, including pitons that he had manufactured personally. During the first years Bonatti worked in a steel mill and climbed on Sunday directly after the Saturday night shift. In less than two years since he started climbing, Bonatti had joined the restricted circle of the best Italian climbers. In 1950 he tried what would have been his first major achievement: the first ascent of the east face of the Grand Capucin, an unclimbed face of red granite in the group of Mont Blanc, together with the climber Camillo Barzaghi, they climbed a few pitches before being forced back by a storm. Three weeks together with Luciano Ghigo another attempt was made. After three days of climbing and three hanging bivouacs they had reached the most difficult section of the climb, a vertical section of 40 metres of smooth granite, but a storm again forced them to retreat.
In 1951 the same team tried again to climb the east face of the Grand Capucin. They started the climb on 20 July in good weather conditions. In two days they got close to the summit but again the weather worsened and they had to spend a day on the face in a hanging bivouac; the next day, despite bad weather conditions, they managed to complete the climb and return safely to the hut. A few years in 1955 and after completing the climb himself, Hermann Buhl stated that it was the "most difficult granite climb in an absolute sense". In 1952, Bonatti together with Roberto Bignami opened the first route on the south ridge of the Aiguille Noire de Peuterey. In February 1953, together with Carlo Mauri he made the first winter ascent of the north face of the legendary Cima Ovest di Lavaredo. A few days they made the first repetition of the winter ascent of the north face of Cima Grande, climbed in 1938 by Fritz Kasparek. Before the end of the 1953 winter, with Roberto Bignami, in only two days, Bonatti opened on Matterhorn a new direct variant on the Furggen Ridge.
In the summer of 1953 he achieved the first climb of Mont Blanc by the north gully from the Peuterey Col. In 1954 Bonatti was assigned to the Alpine regiment and for four days each week he trained men to climb. With all his achievements he had become an unavoidable selection for the Italian assault on K2, which would cause him a lot of trouble. Bonatti was the youngest participant of the 1954 Italian expedition to K2 organised by Ardito Desio; as Bonatti said afterwards at the age of 80: It was the era when European countries picked off the 8,000m peaks in the same way they had colonies 100 years previously. On 31 July, two members of the Italian team Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni reached the summit, securing the first ascent of K2 for the Italian team. However, years after the expedition Bonatti found himself accused and at the center of a bitter controversy based on conflicting accounts of events which occurred during the ascent. Only 53 years did the Italian Alpine Club recognise that both Lacedelli and Compagnoni lied in their account of the ascent and that Bonatti's version of the facts was accurate.
Along with Hunza climber Amir Mehdi, Bonatti had the task to carry oxygen cylinders up to Lacedelli and Compagnoni at Camp IX for a summit attempt. However, Compagnoni had decided to p
Santa Caterina di Valfurva
Santa Caterina di Valfurva is a frazione of the comune of Valfurva, in the northern Italian province of Sondrio. It is home to a popular ski resort, with many FIS World Cup races taking place in the resort. Santa Caterina co-hosted with Bormio the 1985 World Ski Championships and the 2005 World Ski Championships; the highest point of the resort is on the Monte Sobretta. The village is in the Parco Nazionale di Stelvio, is 12km from Bormio, 78 km from Sondrio, 202km from Milan, it is only accessible by road, via Bormio year round, in the summer by the Passo Gavia, which connects to the Passo Valcamonica. Lying at the base of an alpine valley, it has a typical alpine climate. Winter temperatures can fall to -30 °C, in summer temperatures can be up to +27 °C. Achille Compagnoni, first man to reach the summit of K2. Deborah Compagnoni, triple Olympic gold medalist. Official homepage
1st Class / Knight Grand Cross: Cavaliere di Gran Croce Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (8,362)
