Vigna dal Ferro, Giovanni
Name
Vigna dal Ferro, Giovanni
Gender
Male
Birth
1840 Bologna
Death
July 2, 1919 Genoa
Descriptive Note
Giovanni Vigna dal Ferro was a linguist, writer, traveler, editor and reporter. He served as lieutenant iin the Italian army from 1859 to 1867, helping to sedate the Turin Revolt of 1864 ann the Sicilian uprising, and participating in the Austrian War of 1866. In 1867 he returned to Bologna, where he began his language studies and was co-founder of the journal, L'Indipendente.
in 1876, Vigna dal Ferro was sent by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia as secretary of the Italian Commission. He remained in the United States and lerned English. A polyglot, he also learned Greek, Latin, all of the Romance languages, Scandinavian, German and other Germanic languages, Chinese, Japanese, Siamese, and Arabic.
In 1881 he returned to Europe as the special correspondent for the New York Herald at the International Geographical Congress in Genoa. He travelled to Tunis and then spent a year in Rome, where he founded The Roman News, an illustrated English-language journal. He travelled to India, Australia, and Siam, where he was employed by the government in organizing that country's infantry. He then became secretary of the Italian legation in Peking, where he remained until 1888.
He was with a contingent of Italian troops in Peking during the Boxer Rebellion, and later as a commercial delegate and correspondent for Italian newspapers. He served as a war correspondent during the war of Lybia in 1911. He traveled to the United States and wrote a number of articles that were later collected in Un Viaggio nel Far West Americano, Impressioni di G. Vigna dal Ferro.
Vigna dal Ferro promoted various Italian exhibitions, and in 1893 he represented the Italian government at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. In 1900 he had an official role in the Paris Exposition.
He served as the Secretary of The Executive Committee for the Siamese exhibit in Turin.
Roles
Committees, Individual Pavilion's Committee, Members
Selected References
Vigna Dal Ferro and Frederick G. Bohme "Un Viaggio Nel Far West Americano" California Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 41, No. 2 (Jun., 1962), pp. 149-161.
Related Protagonists
Related Built Environment Objects