Pietro Vassena (1897-1967) Forgotten national hero

A tireless and unclassifiable inventor, Pietro Vassena became famous by daring to face the constraints of the great depths at the controls of the C3 bathyscaphe, which he designed and built himself. His 1948 feat in fresh water was soon superseded by the records broken at sea by the submersibles of Auguste Piccard (1884-1962), the Belgian scientist who inspired Hergé to create the character of Professor Tournesol. The laboratories and workshops of this pioneer near Lecco also gave birth to a host of innovative products, from motorcycle mechanics to wartime gas generators, from the small Elios outboard motors to the ‘Skivass’ that allowed one to ‘walk on water’ with a float for each foot.