Adriantartica
New and Old Expeditions
In the years 1975/76 Renato Cepparo with a team of scientists, researchers and sportsmen led a naval expedition to Antarctica on King George Island and on some other sites in the South Shetland Islands. During the expedition he built a permanent base camp naming it like the Italian explorer "Giacomo Bove" and led many researches in different disciplines (biology, geology, geography, etc.) and sport activities of great value, defining part of the topography of the area.
The results of the expedition are now described in scientific publications, by the many scientific collecting and historical equipment now exposed in the major Italian museums, by the historical documentary "Antartide 1975/76" produced by Cinehollywood. However only few ruins remain today in the King George Island to witness that expedition. It is important to note that the expedition itself, other than describing and presenting the important natural resources of the site, promoted the subscription of Italy to the Antarctic Treaty in 1981.
37 years after the Cepparo's expedition, Adriantartica, with the partnership of many important institutions and sponsors, promotes a new expedition on the route of the old one, to visit and explore new and old localities, in particular the Valle Italia to promote it a site of historical interest, and to investigate the geology, the ecology and biodiversity of the area (Project SEELVI).
1976: Valle Italia and the Base "Giacomo Bove"
2013: The adventure continues...
Following the footsteps of Renato Cepparo, Prof. Julius Fabbri started Adriantarctica project just after his trip to King George Island in 2003 in the XIX Italian Expedition in Antarctica with the national research program (PNRA) on the ship N/R OGS-Explora. After ten years of work, diplomacy, friendship with institutions, governments, the precious support of the Cepparo’s family and a huge number of cultural associations as partners involved till now he finally set up a team of researches, documentarists and sportsmen to start the Adriantarctica expedition. As a link with the 1975/76 expedition the photo-reporter Luca Cepparo, the grandson of Renato Cepparo, will be on the team to document the pass of time and the baton to a new generation of explorers.
Valle Italia, the site of Admiralty bay in King George island where Cepparo built the first Italian permanent base, now in ruins, will be studied and investigated to propose it as a site of historical interest. A memorial stone of this important piece of history as a celebration of the Italian tradition of sailors and explorers dedicated to the G. Bove Base camp will be placed on the ruins to preserve their precious memory.
Cinehollywood will record and produce again a documentary on this new expedition to close the circle of Cepparo’s great adventure in Antarctica and divulgate once again the inestimable value its extraordinary natural treasures.
Valle Italia and the Italian base "G. Bove" in 1976
an Italian expedition to the gates of Antarctica