Roberto Bonelli

Roberto Bonelli, the iconic Italian climber born on April 17, 1954, in Cuneo, made his mark on climbing history in the 1970s by breaking with the traditions of classic mountaineering. From his early days in the 1970s, he associated with the young talents who embodied the "Nuovo Mattino" (New Mattino), pushing the boundaries of difficulty in free climbing alongside figures like Andrea Gobetti, Massimo Demichela, Danilo Galante, and Gabriele Beuchod, although he distinguished himself through his own dissenting views. Considered one of the most representative Italian climbers of that decade, he excelled on audacious crack routes such as "Niente più coccole per Bonellino" in Valle dell’Orco, the Fessura Kosterlitz, and the Via del Risveglio in Catteissard, often soloing or free climbing extreme routes, with an iconoclastic and provocative style that shocked the conservative mountaineering community.