Made In Canada By Italian Hands And Parts

When I was a young teenager, I bought my first serious bike. It was a black and Peugeot with gold trimmings back when they were still made in France.

(The elegant Gardin left)

A few years later in 1990, I took the money I saved up $1,200 making thermal windows and upgraded to a Gardin road bike. Gardin was a Canadian bike manufacturer in Ontario (I believe) founded by an Italian immigrant. It's no longer in operation.

Some elements and parts included: Vittoria tires, Mavic rims, Columbus frame, gear system Shimano 105. A Canadian-Italian bike with Italian, Japanese, German and French parts.

Needs a nice cleaning since I haven't used it in a couple of years but still a fine bicycle.

In between, I got my hands on a Specialized mountain bike for $500. A friend of mine knew a guy liquidating them and mine had an original price tag of $1000. Lucky deal.

This year, after a couple of years of talking about getting a new bike, I went out and got another Canadian bike manufactured this time in my hometown by another Italian owner. Marinoni bikes are known for its high, tailored quality.

Seeing I no longer have the time (or energy) to ride like I used to I had to keep my purchase modest. One can easily get swayed by that Italian made bike with a starting price of $3000. A friend of mine did just that and ended up with a $5000 road bike.

At first, I wasn't sure what type of bike I wanted. I was leaning towards a "touring bike" since I didn't think I was going to be racing. Right there, a steel framed bike was in the cards over an aluminum or  carbon one.

I settled on the Sportivo touring model at a reasonable price. All told about $2000.

Marinoni Sportivo parts include: Campagnolo (ultegra) gears, Columbus steel frame, Deda elementi handles, Selle Italia seat, Cadence tires, Khamsin (Campagnolo) rims.

This baby is essentially an Italian-Canadian bike with predominantly Italian and American parts.

1930s Decade Of Achievements

Fascism aside, the 1930s was actually a successful decade for Italy in terms of achievement.

For instance, Fermi and Pirandello winning a Nobel in their respective fields, the arrival of Cinecitta, Marconi's inventions in radio, Olivetti, and of course, who can forget the ferocious Prima Carnera in boxing a sport more popular than soccer at the time. Speaking of which, Italy won back to back World Cups in 1934 and 1938 under the direction of Vittorio Pozzo the first country to do so only matched by the magnificent Brazilians in 1958 and 1962.

Two other breakthroughs took place during the decade. One was the oceanliner SS Rex (from wiki):

"..The Rex operated transatlantic crossings from Italy with its running mate, the Conte di Savoia. On 8 September 1944, off Koper, Rex was hit by 123 rockets launched by RAF aircraft, caught fire from stem to stern. She burned for four days, then rolled onto the port side, and sank in shallow water. The ship was broken up at the site beginning in 1947..."

"...In August 1933, the Rex fulfilled the promises of its designers and captured the Blue Riband on its westbound crossing with a time of four days and thirteen hours, with an average speed of 28.92 knots. This record would last until 1935 when it was captured by the French Line's Normandie..."

The other was the technological success of the seaplane Macchi MC 72 (flown by Francesco Agello  and Italo Balbo). Again from wiki:

"...The Macchi M.C. 72 was an experimental seaplane designed and built by the Italian aircraft company Macchi Aeronautica. The M.C. 72 held the world speed record for all aircraft for five years. In 1933 and 1934, it set a world record speed (by Agello) for internal combustion powered seaplanes which still stands to this day...."

Italy had been part of the innovation race since the late 1920s:

"Italy had been in the running since 1927, when Major Mario de Bernardi took the record at 297.83 mph in a Macchi M52 raising it in a M52bis to 318.64 mph in the spring of the following year. America had been out the running, as had France since 1924 although the record had been excusively French from the beginning until 1922 with the exception of a single day in August 1909 when it had belonged to Glenn Curtiss of the USA. Now, with Mussolini encouraging a foreign policy which was based in a large measure on reducing the influence of France and on emphasising the surperiority of Italy, the air around Lake Garda was filled with the scream of V-24 Fiat engines. hauling the seaplanes of the Italian High-Speed Squadron at speeds which promised to be unmatchable. Alas that same air was also loud with lamentations for the pilots who who to often perished in their proving flights. The record still stood to Britain as it had since 1929, and a few minutes after Boothman had conclusively won the Schneider Trophy Flight Lieutenant GA Stainforth had the other S6B in the air, and pushed the reccrd over the magic mark of ten kilometres a minute for the first time." (Schneider Engines link above)

Italian Machines In Indonesia

ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, and ICE-Trade Promotion Agency have organized two symposiums in Indonesia, specifically in Solo (11 November) and Bandung (13 November), at which some of Italy’s leading textile machinery …

Saving A Masterpiece: The Restoration Of The Last Supper

Pinin Brambilla Barcilon isn't a household name in the realm of history perhaps should be.

She's the mind and master behind the preservation and restoration of Leonardo's The Last Supper.

The painting barely made it out of WWII in precarious condition. Enough so that experts didn't think it could survive that much longer without disintegrating. 

More about her here:

"The true gift of Pinin Brambilla is not only to have brought back to a readable condition what was left of the original Leonardo painting, but also to have made available for electronic modern graphic software the data-base for the ultimate, supreme and unequalled form of restoration: the actual remaking of the Last Supper as Leonardo saw it that last night. Goethe’s dream, in his passionate report to his Lord the Grand Duke Charles Augustus of Saxony, and the dream of Giuseppe Bossi - to save the Last Supper from the almost complete devastation that he foresaw. That will be possible with the sophisticated printing technologies now available and with the legacy of knowledge and documentation discovered in twenty-two years of constant and patient endeavour by Pinin Brambilla Barcilon.

Never have so many owed so much - to one person!"

However, it's not without its critics as this report on 60 Minutes from 1996 reveals.

The restoration is an on-going process. 

****

Nice post about restoration in art at artwatchuk.

Tartaglia: Italian Engineering Roots

One of the first Italian figures I came across in the Encyclopedia (remember those?) back when I was a teenager was the mathematician and engineer Niccolo Tartaglia. I may have posted about him in the past but hey.

Tartaglia discussed the trajectory of projectiles in Nova Scientia.

Otherwise known as the science of ballistics.

From Sciencephoto Library (link above):

"Tartaglia's artillery book. Frontispiece to the 1550 second edition of 'Nova Scientia' (New Knowledge, or New Science) by the Italian mathematician and engineer Niccolo Fontana Tartaglia (1499-1557). This work, on the trajectory of projectiles, was first published in 1537. The allegorical artwork shows Euclid (lower centre) admitting students to the circle of knowledge, which includes a mortar and cannon (left), and figures representing Tartaglia and disciplines such as arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy, and astrology. The upper circle, flanked by coats-of-arms, contains Aristotle, Plato, and an enthroned philosophy figure. The text is in Latin."

Complacency Not An Option

For a creative society like Italy, getting complacent threatens to erode its imagination.

Italian officials need to be on the cutting edge of ideas in order to keep up with its talented population. It's a tough gig but someone has to do it.

You can't sit around and hope a 'Ferrari' will fall onto their lapse. You need to tap into your resources.

One way to do this is to expand a nation's horizon by exposing itself to what's going on outside its own borders.

It's a great way to keep a keen eye on the competition.

In soccer, a great soccer manager sees what's successful and incorporates it into his system.

It's no different with countries.

Alas, while Italians show a remarkable interest in other countries, its institutions are not tapping into this potential.

"A study conducted by Italy’s Communications Authority (AgCom) and promoted by the Telecom Italia Foundation has found that only 53 percent of Italian schools offer initiatives aimed at internationalization, a figure that compares unfavourably to the remaining five EU countries included in the survey. According to the study entitled “The i-generation: adolescents, school and internationalization in six EU countries”, 97 percent of the schools in Germany, 89 percent in Spain, 88 percent in Poland, 81 percent in France and 79 percent in Sweden had signed up to an international project. However, in the half of Italian schools that did offer an internationalization activity, the level of participation of students was higher than all other countries apart from Germany. 
According to the Secretary-General of the Telecom Italia Foundation, the solutions required to improve the level of internationalization of Italian schools include the implementation of ever more innovative and challenging initiatives, especially with regard to the use of new technologies."

Helicopter Simulator Makes Debut

 Frosinone - 

"...The simulator was developed in Italy by Selex ES and allows learners to cover visual and instrumental flight procedures, besides emergency procedures and communications. The technical solution used includes a cabin with real instruments, an aerodynamic model, high fidelity aircraft systems and a system with a wide field of view..."

Shipwrecked Concordia Recovery Mission Success

They pulled it off.

"Using a vast system of steel cables and pulleys, maritime engineers on Monday gingerly winched the massive hull of the Costa Concordia off the reef where the cruise ship capsized near an Italian island in January 2012 and were poised to set it upright in the middle of the night.
After 15 hours of slower-than-expected progress in pulling the heavily listing luxury liner to an upright position, engineers said they finally hit the tipping point they eagerly were awaiting.
Shortly before midnight, the Concordia was raised by 25 degrees — after that, engineers said, the effect of gravity started giving the rotation a boost."

You can watch it here.

Honors For Wi-Next

"Wi-Next, the Italian company founded in 2007 as a start-up of the Polytechnic of Turin, is among finalists at the Red Herring Top 100 Europe Award. The Award is given annually to 100 European companies selected by innovation, financial performance and quality of management. The Award ceremony will be held in Amsterdam on Wednesday, April 10th."

"...Wi-Next proposes itself as a center of excellence proudly Made in Italy, able to create highly customized wireless products and solutions. The innovative model offered by Wi-Next for Wi-Fi solutions is based on the N.A.A.W. firmware, which enables the creation of automatic, reliable and economic wireless networks, able to ensure the maximum extension of coverage..."

Falcon Social eventually took top prize.

Italian Expertise In China

From fiber2hashion.com:


"The production of technical textiles and nonwovens has been growing in China, in step with increasing local demand for this product range. Specific customized machinery for this sector has thus also become a necessity. In Guangzhou, Italian machinery manufacturers will be presenting their most advanced technology for the production of technical textiles and nonwovens."

More Costa Concordia Salvage News

As I've pointed out, the Costa Concordia saga symbolizes the drama that is Italy.

From the Globe and Mail: 

"The Costa Concordia wreck and the behaviour of its captain, who abandoned the ship ahead of many of the passengers, have been an embarrassment to Italians. But to Italy’s technology and fabrication industries, the wreck has been a source of pride.

The specialized engineering works designed to remove the Costa Concordia from a granite ledge next to the Tuscan island of Giglio will be tested in front of a global audience as early as Monday, when, weather permitting, the enormous cruise liner is to be winched upright and refloated."

Italy is a society that simultaneously produces the Mafia, Vatican and Dante. A nation of extreme points it seems.

Quotes Of The Day: Saving Italy

From Saving Italy. (Robert Edsel).


Letter to Commanders.

"Today we are fighting in a country which has contributed a great deal to our cultural inheritance, a country rich in monuments which by their creation helped and now in their old age illustrate the growth of the civilization which is ours. We are bound to respect those monuments so far as war allows..."  Dwight D. Eisenhower. p 67.

"We've been hitting targets around Florence for a long time, but we haven't actually hit in the city itself because approximately ten percent of the world's art treasures are located right here in Florence..."  Briefing commander. p 105.

A remarkable paragraph I came across years ago in a travel book contested that "60% of Europe's cultural masterpieces and 40% of the world's reside within Italy's borders."

It's an astounding figure indeed. I was never able to retrieve that quote but the above passage from the commander (indeed the book itself) is the closest I've come to finding it (to say nothing of glancing over Unesco's World Heritage Sites which Italy tops).

So if Florence held 10% is it out of the realm of possibility that other cultural centers like Rome, Naples and Venice and major cities like Milan can't come close or match Florence? Then come all the smaller but no less significant towns like Padua, Lucca, Urbino, Siena, Pompei, Verona, Bologna, Ravenna, Lecce, Como, Pisa and Assisi. To say nothing of the ancient villages and islands like Sicily, Murano and Torcello.

Together, these place make Italy a titan of cultural treasures unmatched in the world. The scope is indeed breathtaking and it's no wonder a band of American and British servicemen sought to protect what was left and undamaged by the war.

 I don't know if masterpieces destroyed over the years (the Nazis leveled the University of Naples, for example, a couple of times, while Monte Cassino was destroyed during the Allied invasion) factor into the figures. If not, then the depth of Italy's cultural heritage becomes all the more difficult to measure.

Ceccarelli Yacht Design

Ceccarelli engineering is based in Ravenna (like Microperi) and is partnered with Microperi in the Costa Concordia disaster.

The translation in the profiles page could use a hand.

In fact, it's one common feature I've noticed since starting this blog. Italian companies have yet to, judging by the text, focus on English translation. In my view, it's an important aspect of how you want to project your company and convey its mission. 

A World Without Drivers

A ride around Parma in VisLab's driverless car.

Engineering Philosophies Tested In Costa Concordia Recovery

The Costa Concordia catastrophe's recovery project is fast approaching $1 billion (originally estimated to be about $300 million) and is testing engineering minds in the process.

A remarkable story of human ingenuity is rising amidst the disaster as both Italian and international talent and resources are being committed to removing the massive cruise liner from where it hauntingly lays half submerged at an angle in water on the island of Giglio in Tuscany.

Giglio, a hidden gem for tourists, also produces expensive tiles.

The design and material needed falls right into the abilities of Italian know-how but it's a challenge made much more complex given the delicate and rich marine life that exists under the ship thus dismissing the possibility of simply blowing it to bits.

Der Spiegel writes:

"On the island of Giglio, they are currently preparing the most spectacular shipwreck towing maneuver in maritime history. Never before has such a colossal cruise ship been raised to an upright position. The vessel is 290 meters (951 feet) long and 36 meters (118 feet) wide. It has a displacement of 50,000 metric tons. To make matters worse, it's lying in a precarious position on a rocky slope and is in danger of sliding into deeper water. The salvage is expected to cost at least €300 million ($387 million) and will set new technical and environmental standards."

The plan to literally pull the ship onto a plank is a hit or miss scenario according to experts involved.

"...In early May, four months after the ship ran aground, a technical committee comprised of representatives of the shipping company, shipbuilding companies and additional experts awarded the contract to Titan Salvage and Micoperi, a company based in Ravenna, Italy that specializes in underwater constructions such as oil platforms. Six other companies had also bid on the project, including specialists working for Smit from Rotterdam, who until just a few weeks ago had been pumping the heavy fuel out of the wreck. The Dutch were so popular that Giglio residents performed a Mexican wave for them down at the harbor. Smit was also the company that achieved the feat in 2003 of cutting apart a sunken car freighter in the English Channel and removing it piece by piece.

The committee decided against cutting apart the Costa Concordia, and instead opted for the most expensive proposal -- the plan to bring the capsized ship to an upright position. To achieve this, they will use a kind of rolling maneuver called the parbuckling principle. For the experiment, 33-meter high watertight steel boxes, or caissons, will be attached to the sides of the ship and used as floats. From an underwater platform deeply anchored in the bedrock, 36 steel cables, each as thick as a lamppost, will extend to the upper edge of the caissons. These cables will be used to almost silently rotate the ship out of its tilted position. It will have taken one year to painstakingly prepare the maneuver, but it will require less than two hours to perform it -- if all goes well."

"...It has already become clear that the salvage operation with Titan Salvage and Micoperi has set the stage for the clash of two very different corporate cultures: One is a team of daredevil problem solvers who rope down from helicopters to the decks of stricken tankers and lasso abandoned ships on the high seas as if they were wild horses. The other is a group of designer engineers who work meticulously according to official guidelines, where each step is coordinated with the coast guard, the Environment Ministry, the region of Tuscany or the mayor of Giglio. In situations like this, Italy's bureaucrats can be very fussy. On numerous occasions, Micoperi engineers have urged their colleagues from Titan Salvage to show more respect for rules and regulations: "We are not in Bangladesh."
 
The enormity and complexity of the task is something worth following.

More on the story here.

Microperi website here.