Gianni Widmer

Gianni Widmer was born April 25^th 1892, he attended the civil aviation academy of La Comina and achieved his pilot’s licence in June 1911 in Taliedo. Straight after that, despite his truly limited experience, he made the Grado-Trieste crossing attracting the general attention of the public at large. From that moment on his activities grew more and more: he played an active role in the Venice-Trieste flight, and again in 1911 he took part in the first international flying competition during the Austrian Aviation Week held in Wiener Neustadt.

In 1912 he carried out, perhaps the most sensational achievements of his career: the Trieste-Venice flight on the occasion of the official opening of Saint Marc’s rebuilt bell tower on the day of his 20^th birthday. In the same year he made his first tour of the Balkans: he flew over Zara and Spalato, and then over Ljubljana, Zagreb, Belgrade, Sarajevo and finally he landed in Montenegro. In 1913 he wanted to make this lifelong dream come true and fly to Rome. Hindered by technical problems and bad weather, this raid could not be concluded. However, this helped Widmer to make himself known in several cities in the Romagna and Marche regions, as well as in the Republic of San Marino. Then, he took part in the Aviation Days in Naples, where now practically a famous and experienced aviator, he was one of the protagonists. Then he flew at the International Air Meet in Vienna to then fly over Zagreb and Cetinje in Montenegro. Finally, on 11^th April 1914 he was successful in his dream of flying to Rome. His pioneering activities concluded with the last Air Meet in Vienna in 1914, which in fact concluded during the days of the assassination in Sarajevo.