Exactly 61 years have passed since that June 8, 1960, when the Gavia was tackled for the first time by the Giro d’Italia, the pink caravan was able to pass easily thanks to the work of Rocco Silvestri and his team, who cleared the road of snow, the curiosity is that today, after exactly 61 years, his son Quirino, whom you see in the photo as a child sitting on the tiller, has returned to clean the Gavia as his father did. It was 1952 when Rocco succeeded in freeing his Livigno from the winter isolation that until that year kept Little Tibet isolated from the rest of the World. The figure and fame of Rocco Silvestri, referred to as the “guardian angel of the road” soon transcended Livigno’s borders, the very Gavia in 1960 was kept clean by his men and cutters, so much so that the sports press complimented him on his excellent work, with newspaper articles and mentions in all the national newspapers. In 1971 he received the gold star from the ACI, as a contractor for the opening and winter maintenance of the Foscagno Pass road, to which he has always devoted himself with passion and competence, sparing no manpower, means and economic sacrifices, to ensure the viability on one of the most blizzard-prone passes, maintaining the connection between Livigno and the rest of Valtellina, a contract his family still has today. I leave below the words of Alfred Schmidt, an engineer and friend of Rocco Silvestri, one of the founders of what was to become the German company that produced the most famous road snow cutters in the World.
“In 1957, at our small farm in St. Blasien, a young Italian from Livigno came to visit me. I had spent a skiing vacation in the Engadine and knew that Livigno was located in an alpine valley over 1800 meters that could be reached in winter via the Foscagno Pass or the Forcola di Livigno. In those days these two passes, both located over 2200 meters, were often closed for several days because of snow. This slender, athletic man with a sun-tanned face introduced himself as Rocco Silvestri and explained that he was responsible for opening both passes. Rocco owned the Spöl tree, a trucking business, a gas station, and a small supermarket. He had come to me because he was interested in buying one of our fledgling snow cutters mounted on Unimogs. At that time we had delivered some of these machines only to Germany, never to Italy, Rocco was the first to want it. He asked me for explanations with many technical questions and had the machine explained to him in detail; he was convinced that our technology was ideal for clearing the passes in Livigno. Rocco appeared to me to be an honest and reliable young contractor who was willing to take on a big commitment, so within a few months I delivered to him the VF1 milling machine with Unimog, our jewel of the time, the first Schimdt model delivered on Italian soil. Being highly satisfied in use, the groundwork had been set for a lasting relationship, so much so that he used exclusively at our company for all his future snow cutters, I was especially happy that Rocco also became a good friend.” Engineer Alfred Schmidt on the book “Rocco Silvestri, a history of Livigno.”
Marco Trezzi