Paolo Ballada di Saint Robert

It was in 1857, at the age of 42, who left his military career to devote himself fully to his studies. Some of these studies remain linked to the military framework, for example his work on artillery and ballistics. He works on pyrical powders, their chemical composition, manufacturing methods, phenomena related to the explosion and trajectory of bullets. These studies earned him the title of founder of the science of shooting of modern artillery and the quotation among the best students of the Accademia Militare in Turin, along with Count of Cavour, Alfonso Lamarmora, Alessandro della Rovere and Giovanni Cavalli.

The other studies to which he devoted himself are related to Mathematical Analysis, Mechanics and Physical Sciences. These include studies on thermodynamics, which can be considered the greatest Italian scholar of time (the first studies on thermodynamics began in the early decades of the nineteenth century).

Among the most active in refounding hyptometry, over the years’60 of the 19th century, to him goes the merit of having kept high in England and France, the scientific prestige Kingdom of Italy recently born.

His studies on hypsometry are conceived and controlled by himself through direct observations during his mountain excursions. A passionate mountaineer, he made many excursions and ascesses, including the first performed by Italians of Monviso (12 August 1863), providing interesting descriptions illustrated with views and maps, accompanied by the list of plants and insects collected there. A friend of Quintino Sella (founder of the C.A.I) and Bartolomeo Gastaldi, founded together with them, in 1863, the Italian Alpine Club of which he was also director. They followed excursions to Mount Ciamarella in 1867 and the Gran Sasso in 1871.

The study of flora is also linked to the mountain. For many years he worked with botanical passion, collecting an important herbarium, rich in rare and beautiful plants, including the Saxifraga florulenta (herbaceous species of Saxifragaceae) found in the Maritime Alps.

With the help of astronomy and mathematics, he understands the exact meaning of a Tertiary of Divine Comedy (Purgatorio, I, 22-24) and explains how Dante Alighieri refers to a constellation in particular, “the Southern Cross”.

In 1878 Paul of Saint Robert, at 63 years old, retired to a country house in Castagnole delle Lanze (in the province of Asti). It is particularly in these years of his life that he demonstrated his passion for entomology. From the stories that have been handed down we learn that the count paid the children who brought him insects. In fact, he formed a rich collection of insects, species of beetles, expertly catalogued.

Here, in 1880, it built a 14-metre high tower from which you can admire the entire Alpine chain, from Monte Rosa to the Maritime Alps.

In 1884, by now infirm, he moved permanently to Turin where he died on November 21, 1888.