Summary
ALMOST TWO and a half centuries ago, society went balloon crazy, largely due to a stylish young Italian aeronaut whose daring flights in Scotland and England inspired not only reams of enthusiastic prose and poetry, but a natty line in women's hats and underwear.
As Jon Usher, professor of Italian at Edinburgh University, will explain in a talk at the city's Italian Institute next Tuesday, Vincenzo Lunardi, who made five long-distance flights across Scotland in a hydrogen balloon in 1785, wasn't just a pioneer in the realms of aviation but was an early example of "celeb" culture.See the full content of this document
Extract
Scots Wahey!
Lunardi was born in Lucca, Tuscany, in 1759 and came to Britain as secretary to Prince Caramanico, the Neapolitan Ambassador, through the patronage of his guardian, Gherardo Compagni, a consul of justice in Lucca. He first established his reputation as "the Daredevil Aeronaut", with the assistance of an English scientist, George Biggin, on a balloon flight from the ground of the Honourable Artillery Company at Moorfields, London...
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