The De Filippi scientific expedition to the Western Himalaya, Karakorum and Chinese Turkestan (1913–1914): a memory one hundred years after.

The De Filippi expedition reached Bombay in August 1913, and, during the next 12 months, carried out extensive explorations of Western Himalaya, Karakorum, and Chinese Turkestan. There are several reasons for remembering the De Filippi expedition to Central Asia: (1) a real interest in a past and present neuralgic area comprising several states, in particular Pakistan, China, and India, (2) the renewed attention in the subject of exploration and Italy’s special contribution in this field, (3) the need—now finally acknowledged—to protect and make appropriate use of our scientific heritage, and (4) an interest in new forms of tourism. In 2014, more than one event marked the centenary of a geographic exploration occurring between the ‘‘heroic’’ explorations of unknown territories throughout the 19th century, which enabled the progressive mapping of uncharted areas, and the ‘‘scientific’’ expeditions of the early 20th, which already had at their disposal instruments of research and reportage unthinkable only a few decades earlier. One hundred years after the expedition, we focus the attention on the scientific results obtained by persons that we do not hesitate to define as extraordinary, but now partly forgotten.