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EspañolMonumento a Giacomo Bove
In Acqui Terme, a monument by Eugenio Barone honours Giacomo Bove, the naval officer and explorer born in nearby Maranzana. Bove joined Adolf Erik Nordenskjöld's Vega expedition through the Northeast Passage and died in Verona in 1887.
Why it matters
Giacomo Bove is the Monferrato's contribution to the heroic age of exploration. Born in Maranzana, a village in the Astigian Monferrato a few kilometres from Acqui Terme, he made his career in the Italian navy before joining the Vega expedition of 1878-79 under the Swedish geologist Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld — the first expedition to navigate the Northeast Passage along the Siberian coast. He later led expeditions to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego and a Congo mission for the Italian state. The monument by sculptor Eugenio Barone gives this biography a place in Acqui Terme's public landscape.
What to notice
The monument portrays Bove in a struggle against northern storms, as described by the municipality. The dramatic composition reflects his work as a hydrographer, navigator and polar explorer.
Context and history
Bove's life was compressed and intense. After distinguishing himself as a young officer on the eastern expedition of the Governolo in the early 1870s, he studied marine currents and invented a tidal scale for hydrographic measurement, joined the Vega expedition in 1878-79 as its hydrographer, and went on to lead the expeditions to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego in 1881-84 and a Congo mission in 1885-86. The Vega voyage itself became a legend of navigation: after overwintering frozen into the Siberian coast, the little ship returned home by the Indian Ocean and Suez after a voyage of some 41,000 kilometres. Bove then tried to mount an Italian Antarctic expedition — the project that eventually turned his energies toward Patagonia. Gravely ill after the Congo, he resigned his commission and died by suicide in Verona in 1887. His story was kept alive locally by dedicated associations, and the monument by Eugenio Barone stands as the town's tribute.