5 Things to Know About Genius Pietro Vassena (1897-1967), The Restless Inventor From Lake Como
Pietro Vassena in Lecco | Pic from the exhibition “L’uomo che camminava sulle acque”
We have a thing for all creative and revolutionary minds, even more if they are born on the shores of our awesome Lake Como: Pietro Vassena (1897-1967) is one of those.
Pietro Vassena in 1948 - Source: official archives Vassena
Every village of the world has its own epic, its characters; sometimes these people are legendary, sometimes they’re rigorously part of History (with capital letter), like Pietro Vassena: he’s indeed the one who, in 1948, established a world record of diving with his submarine, at more than 400 meters of depth in the waters of Argegno, western bank of Lake Como. He was also the one inventing for the first time a pair of water skis, an invisible alarm clock, a flying catamaran, a pocket outboard motor… and much more! His list of (often quirky) patents is pretty much endless.
Source: www.officinevassena.it
This is a story of a restless spirit who wanted to challenge the dark abysses of Lake Como, and the physics dynamics in general: and he managed.
Here are 5 cool fun facts to know about the life of this fantastic inventor from Lake Como, so that if you’ll happen to pass by his memorial monument in Argegno, you can say: oh I know him, he’s that extraordinary genius!
Pietro Vassena monument in Argegno, in front of Piazza Roma
#1 He didn’t need to study engineering for being an incredible genius
Vassena had humble origins: his father Luigi ran a tavern in the center of Malgrate, a village on the Lecco branch, where Pietro himself started working as an apprentice quite soon.
In those years (early 20th century) the Lecco area was the hub of Lake Como industry: Pietro often stopped to observe the avant-garde of technology and the functioning of machinery, showing a deep interest in mechanics.
During First World War he was employed as a cyclist postman; back from the front, he worked at Faini company (producers of bikes) where he began to apply his inventiveness to the industrial machinery. That’s how he ended up inventing a special machine for the mass production of bicycle spokes.
Still very young, in 1923, he established his creative workshop in Lecco, in the very central Via Cavour. There he used to spend almost all his days designing creations.
Fun fact: Pietro wasn’t an engineer, and didn’t study to get a degree. He just had the mechanics in his DNA! In 1940, however, he got a degree honoris causa from Politecnico in Milano.
#2 He made walking on Lake Como waters possible
In 1932, Vassena decided that everyone on Lake Como deserved to try the experience of walking on the water surface. Like a god, essentially.
Pic from the exhibition “L’uomo che camminava sulle acque”
He had been starting to cultivate this dream with a series of sketches in his hub in Lecco: the 2 skis looked like two tiny kayaks. “Skivass” (union of the names Ski + Vassena) was the name he chose for this new patent: an ingenious technological-sporting proposal halfway between skis and canoes.
That was an incredibly interesting achievement of the time: in June 1963, during Kennedy’s visit to Villa Serbelloni, the cameras framed Vassena as he waved at the president floating on the waters of Bellagio.
#3 He made the world record of diving into Lake Como abyss with with his “baby” submarine
12th March 1948: Vassena established the world record of diving with his self-propelled bathyscaphe C3 in Argegno.
C3 was basically a handcrafted little submarine that Vassena created with a lot of enthusiasm (and a certain dose of unconsciousness!) during Second World War.
Vassena’s original project | Source: Archivio Vassena
The origin of the name C3 is another fun fact: in 1945, during the war, Pietro was locked up, together with other Lecco industrialists, in a college in Lecco, in via Ghislanzoni. Here in the classroom/cell number 3 the new project took shape in the mind and then on paper. So the name of Pietro’s future creature could only be C3, i.e cell number 3.
Vassena in his C3
Transported by a ship coming from Lecco, C3 was dropped into the water of Argegno. At 13.19, the dive started; on board, in addition to its inventor Vassena, there was also the submarine Nino Turati.
C3 leaving from Lecco
The hull was connected to the support ship via a telephone cable. The device used to communicate alarm signals is totally quirky: an alarm clock linked to the on-board microphone and all locked up in a cooking pot; if the water had infiltrated inside, the pot would have overturned, interrupting the ticking of the alarm clock, thus presaging a dangerous situation. After a few attempts, the C3 reached a depth of -412 meters: that was also the very first time the (quite disturbing) depth of Lake Como was measured!
Source: www.officinevassena.it
The news went around the world: the Swiss physicist Auguste Piccard (1844-1962) wanted to personally get to know Vassena, the inventor who had managed to challenge the laws of physics and anticipating the navy of the great powers like USA.
In November 1948, unfortunately, the C3 sank forever near Capri, during a maneuvering error made by the Navy personnel. That day Pietro bursts into uncontrollable weeping: he had lost his beloved creation.
The US Navy, however, recorded Vassena's work as the first extraordinary "peace submarine" ever built until then.
#4 He wanted to fly over the water like in a fairy tale
The loss of his C3 didn’t extinguish Vassena’s creative genius. In 1957, he created a hybrid between a car, a hull and a float: basically a sort of floating gyroplane. 4 wheels, 2 propellers and a maximum speed of 100 km per hour: it drove on the road like a normal car, but thanks to the propeller it could also hover in flight.
Its name was Grillo. Another incredible invention halfway between dreams and mechanics.
#5 He invented the very first transparent clock… far earlier than Swatch!
Vassena was also a precursor of times: he anticipated the trend launched by Swatch many years later, the one of plastic watches and clocks. He was indeed the first to invent a table clock with transparent plastic cover, with its colored gears fully visible. And that’s impressive if you think how rare and expensive was a material like plastic in those years!
From Vassena’s hub in Lecco, many plastic clocks were produced and delivered throughout Italy.
Dreamers always smile
We believe that personalities like Pietro Vassena’s one deserve to be remembered: not only for the admirable quantity of inventions and patents, but also and especially for the playful enthusiasm with which these daring creations have been addressed. Have you noticed? In most archive photos, when photographed alongside his inventions, Vassena smiles at the camera. It’s the smile of the dreamers, which seems to say: I did it again!
Pic from the exhibition “L’uomo che camminava sulle acque”
Article by Laura Zanotta
Sources: www.officinevassena.it; https://www.panorama.it/pietro-vassena-leonardo-del-lago-lecco
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