A genius. Pietro Vassena was an absolute genius. Although sometimes I wonder what must be done to leave a concrete mark on history. Yet he, with the third grade as a qualification, designed and built a submersible and with this he descended to 412 meters deep, touching the lowest point of Lake Como. Vassena lived from 1897 to 1967 in Malgrate, in the province of Lecco; He set a world record in the year of grace 1948, yet outside the borders of his territory he is little known and appreciated. That's why I decided to dedicate a video to him, because his story deserves to be told and spread to as many people as possible. I met one of the most fascinating characters of the Italian twentieth century. And I deepened his personal story through books, articles, direct testimonies of those who knew him and lived the extraordinary enterprise. That year, '48, in an Italy just out of war and fascism, in search of anti-hero heroes and stories that make you dream, Pietro Vassena establishes the primacy of deep immersion aboard an "iron tube" designed and built by himself. You would not believe it: at the time no military vehicle of the world powers managed to exceed 100 meters. Ours instead brings its bathyscaphe, the "C3", at an altitude of 412 meters in Argegno, touching the bottom of the Lario. The masterpiece of an extraordinary self-taught.

Inventions to fall in love with

This would already be enough to fall in love with Vassena. But there's more. Much more. For example, all his curious inventions: gasogen-powered appliances, or charcoal; the outboard vehicles, the homonymous Vassena motorcycles, the two-stroke twin-cylinder engines that a few years later are fitted as standard on motorcycles destined to make history, such as the Rumi. But perhaps the invention able more than others to leave a mark in the collective imagination is represented by the skivass, a sort of skis thanks to which you can walk on water, with which Pietro, one day in Bellagio, presents himself in the presence of none other than President Kennedy. Pietro Vassena walked on the water and crossed them. A giant. Yet it followed the same fate as its C3, which sank in the waters of the Gulf of Capri in 1948. Vassena has ended up in oblivion, in depth, ready to re-emerge on certain occasions, such as during the splendid exhibition held in Malgrate in 2018, or among the images of my video. Too little. He deserves a permanent museum, squares and monuments with his name and profile. And the admiration of Italians.