The opening of the exhibition at the Visconti Tower, in the late afternoon of Friday, February 9, 2024, was preceded by a meeting held at Palazzo delle Fare to offer a portrait of Fr De Agostini. In addition to the two mountaineers already mentioned, the President of the Lecco CAI, Adriana Baruffini, also took the floor, to whom the municipal councillor for education and sport, Emanuele Torri, offered greetings; two professors, Fr Francesco Motto of the ISS and Nicola Bottiglieri of the University of Cassino; and scholar Germano Caperna. Mountaineering historian Alberto Benini recounted another venture of the "Spiders" in Patagonia, the ascent of Cerro Murallon, which was successful in 1984 after a series of unsuccessful attempts in previous years.

In 1956, Carlo Mauri from Leccco, along with Clemente Maffei from Trent, managed to ascend the unexplored Monte Sarmiento, the lifelong dream of Fr De Agostini. Although he could not personally climb it, he had the joy at 73 years of age of being able to organise the expedition that succeeded in the undertaking. And in the exhibition brought to Lecco there is the historic cover of the "Domenica del Corriere" which depicts the two mountaineers in the act of planting the Italian and Chilean flags at the top of the stone and ice tower that rises directly from the waters.

With Carlo Mauri, therefore, a thread connecting Lecco and Patagonia was stretched that will never be severed. Suffice it to say that just in the months between 2023 and 2024 there have been five expeditions that involved the Lecco Spiders in Patagonia. A land, at the time of De Agostini, still largely unknown, but which, thanks to his photographs, books and films, has become a dream for many. In Italy the figure of De Agostini is unfortunately almost forgotten, known mostly by insiders, but in Patagonia it now belongs to myth.

Salesian Historical Institute

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