Lecco, 16 October 2024 – From China in the footsteps of Antonio Stoppanion the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of the great naturalist from Lecco. About twenty students from the Beijing Universityaccompanied by Andrea Tintoriformer professor of Paleontology at the University of Milan, has traveled far and wide through the Lombardy peaks, from Grigne, at the Val di Melloto touch the rocks and places where the author de The Beautiful Country (1876) carried out his studies.
“Historians, writers, engineers have spoken about Stoppani… but if anyone wanted to see gods fossils where should it go?”, asks Professor Tintori. A message that must have reached Beijing more strongly than in Lecco, with the Chinese students dedicating ten tiring days to field research and the geology of the lake.
Students of Pekin University at the small church of San Calimero, in Valsassina
“We took a tour of Monte San Giorgio studying the outcrops, then two days in Val di Mello and Valmasino – explains the paleontologist from Lecco, author of excavation and research campaigns that have seen him involved all over the world -. Then we went down to Grigna, in the Pialeral area, then Baiedo.
The tour then continued on Bellagiowith the view of the beautiful tip of Tremezzo and the two shores of the lake which are geologically very different from each other. A very important walk was made in the limestone massifs of Exinowhich for Stoppani were one of the main objectives. He had collected his fossils right there. The study then concluded on Saint Martin behind the city of Lecco”.
For several years, students of Beijing University have started a field research project in Italy, thanks to their friendship with professor Andrea Tintori and the importance of a figure like Antonio Stoppani. With “Il Bel Paese“ Stoppani became the first great scientific communicator in Italy and also in Europe. It was a great success and was used as a textbook in all schools to unify the language. A character who, two hundred years after his birth, is more current than ever. Even in China.
