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Lawrence Grassi
From Piedmont to the Rocky Mountains
Elio Costa (Author), Gabriele Scardellato (Author)
9781442626249
Paperback / softback, published 8 May 2015
328 pages, 100 b&w illustrations
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.48 kg
“Meticulously researched by the authors, both highly qualified academics, this biography reveals much about Grassi and his experiences as a climber and mountain guide, his exquisite trail work and the experience of Italian immigrants of the era. “ ‘It is a fine book.’
Lawrence Grassi was a trailblazer in every sense of the word. A working-class man of humble Italian origins who worked as a labourer and a coal miner for most of his life, Grassi had a deep passion for the Rocky Mountains. He was famous in the region for his commitment as a guide, a mountain climber, and a builder of greatly admired hiking trails. Today, in or near Canmore, his name graces a mountain, two lakes, and a school, and he is commemorated at Lake O’Hara in Yoho National Park. In Lawrence Grassi: From Piedmont to the Rocky Mountains, Elio Costa and Gabriele Scardellato uncover the deeply private man behind this legend, from his birth in the small Italian village of Falmenta to his long and inspirational career in Canada. Using previously unexamined family letters and extensive information on Grassi’s cohort of Italian immigrants, the authors reconstruct his personal and professional life, correcting myths and connecting his story to the long history of Italian immigration to Canada. The definitive biography of this Canadian mountain hero, Lawrence Grassi will be essential reading for those interested in the history of immigration, sport, and the Rocky Mountains.
Introduction 1. The Beginnings: Falmenta, the Cannobino Valley, and Emigration 2. “Dear Son Write to Me”: Those Left Behind and Life on the North Shore 3. Lawrence Grassi in the Mountains 4. The Trail Maker Epilogue: “A Symbol and a Legend of the Canadian Rockies” Appendix: Letters from the Grassi Collection, in Translation