Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi

Luigi Amedeo Giuseppe Maria Ferdinando Francesco di Savoia -Aosta, Duke of the Abruzzi ( born January 29, 1873 in Madrid, † March 18, 1933 in Jawhar ) was an Italian naval officer, explorer and nobleman of the House of Savoy. He was the third-born son of Amadeus of Savoy, who was from 1870 to 1873 as Amadeo I King of Spain. He is generally considered in Italy Duca degli Abruzzi ( Duke of Abruzzi ) known, a title that only he was wearing.

1897 ascended Luigi Amadeo together with its companion, the mountain leader Joseph Petigax from Courmayeur, the 5489 meter high Mount St. Elias on the border between Alaska and the Yukon Territory in Canada. With the converted whaler Jason, to whom he had given the name Stella Polare, he went in 1899 to Franz Josef Land and charted its northern part, together with the Italian polar explorer Umberto Cagni. In an attempt to conquer the North Pole, Cagni reached on April 24, 1900 the northernmost until then by a human trodden place at 86 ° 34 ' N, 64 ° 30 ' E.

In 1906 he led an expedition to the Rwenzori Mountains in Uganda, where he surveyed 16 peaks, of which Mount Luigi di Savoia today bears his name.

1909 Luigi Amedeo took a research trip in the Karakoram. There, guided by his expedition explored the second-highest mountain on Earth, K2, from three sides and reached the eastern ridge has a height of at least 6250 m. About the day after Luigi Amedeo known as " Abruzzigrat " growth coming in 1954, the first ascent of the mountain called by the locals Chogori the summit. The route is now considered normal route. At the Chogolisa, Mount Doom Hermann Buhl, the expedition reached a height of almost 7500 m - height record for that time. At the expedition the well-known mountain photographer Vittorio Sella took part, the high-quality recordings from the mighty mountains and remote valleys of the Karakoram could make.

The Picco Luigi Amedeo in Italy and Luigi peak in Antarctica are also named after the Duke.

In his career as a naval officer in 1912 he reached the rank of vice admiral and was appointed in 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War to the supreme commander of the Italian fleet. From this post he was in 1917, replaced by Thaon di Revel, the former Chief of the Naval Staff.