Count Luigi Francesetti of Mezzenile (1776 - 1850), was in the 1800s an important entrepreneur , owned numerous nail forges, a curious intellectual and a valuable politician , for some years he was also mayor in Turin.
He spent his vacations at his castle in the centre of Mezzenile, a village nestled in the Lanzo Valleys, from which he set off on long hikes in the valleys.
On these walks, he was accompanied by a servant, who carried the provisions and scientific instruments (thermometer and mercury barometer), which Francesetti used, in the wake of the work by the great Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt , to measure the temperature of the springs, surveyed the height above sea level of the villages, made observations of the rocks, flora, fauna, life and daily activities of the mountain people.
Based on these studies, he wrote an important treatise "Lettres sur le vallées de Lanzo (1820 - 1822) ", translated into Italian by Piero Gribaudi for the Società Storica delle Valli di Lanzo, in which he outlined the first scientific and exploratory description of the Lanzo valleys.
Foto @alessandra.corra
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