Alberto Gianni

Alberto Gianni (26 April 1891 – 7 December 1930) was an Italian underwater diver and inventor.

Early life and career Gianni was born in Viareggio, Tuscany, Italy. He served as a soldier during the Italo-Turkish War and World War I, becoming a diver after seeing divers on warships. In 1911 he plugged a leak on the Italian battleship Regina Elena after it had collided with the Saint-Bon in stormy seas. In 1916 he suffered from decompression sickness after participating in a submarine recovery in La Spezia.

Diving equipment Gianni is best known for building a decompression chamber, which he called the cassa disazotatrice, in 1916.

Another of his major achievements was the "torretta butoscopica", (direct translation: exploration turret), a one-man atmospheric pressure underwater observation chamber deployed by a lifting cable from a ship, provided with a telephone, and supplied with breathing air from the surface, which he designed, built and tested. The tragedy occurred at a time of great euphoria given the real possibility of recovering the valuable sunken treasure of the Egypt.

The gold of the Egypt

The recovery of the Egypt'''s treasure was then carried out by the SO.RI.MA. company, outfitting a new ship, called the Nuovo Artiglio, for the occasion. The operation achieved a resounding success at the international level since it was the first step in the world of deep-water recovery, something considered impossible at the time, carried out by Italian divers and which became possible thanks to the organization left by Gianni and the use of his inventions, especially the "torretta butoscopica". Congratulations were sent from all over the world, including from George V (King of the United Kingdom), Benito Mussolini, and then-communications minister Costanzo Ciano.