David Thomas

This book is about a remarkable man, Giovanni Maria de Agostini, born in Italy in 1801, who combined two seemingly contradictory aspirations: a fervent desire to devote his whole life to "perfect solitude" and an astonishing urge to travel incessantly. As his decisions and actions emerge from the lightless silence - the time-covered past - a unifying purpose becomes evident. Following extensive travel in Europe, Agostini takes vows revocable only by formal dispensation from the Pope. He immediately leaves forever his "beloved Italy" for South America. Twenty-one years he spends traversing that, at the time, greatly unexplored continent, visiting Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Chile - and so doing multiple times. During this spectacular solo Odyssey, he survives a trip down the Amazon River by canoe, crosses the Alps by foot several times, walks vast distances, and endures living alone in scalding deserts and subzero mountains. In spite of oppressive and infuriating obstacles, including death threats, unjust arrest, deportation, jail, and forced confinement in a mental asylum, Agostini persists undeterred in the solemn goal he set for himself when he left Europe. Seeking change and another continent, Agostini leaves South America for Mexico, passing through Panama and Guatemala, and then Mexico for North America, passing through Cuba. In Cuba, he is hailed as an extraordinary adventurer, his photograph is taken, and he is proclaimed "The Wonder of Our Century." After arrival in New York, he walks to Canada, where he spends almost a year, then "goes west," eventually reaching, in the midst of the American Civil War, the Territory of New Mexico, where he meets his merciless fate. Agostini is remembered in many places -- in South America as Monge Joao Maria, in North America as Ermitano Don Juan Agostini; however his life story is encrusted with myth and false fact. As the veritable events of his life are unveiled, a man of fascinating originality, prodigious endurance, intelligence, self-discipline, and self-sufficiency, infused with an indomitable spirit of adventure, emerges. Today in Argentina, as many as 15,000 people participate in a yearly festival initiated by Agostini at Cerro Monje, "Monk's Hill." In Brazil, at Cerro Campestre, "Campestre Hill," and Santo Cerro do Botucarai, "Holy Hill of Botucarai," over 10,000 people celebrate annual events founded by Agostini. In Lapa, Brazil, a national park protects the pilgrimage route to Gruta do Monge, "Monk's Grotto." At Aracoiaba Hill, near Sorocaba, Brazil, the Trilha da Pedra Santa, "Trail of the Holy Rock," is climbed annually by thousands of people desiring to pay respect to the memory of the Monge do Ipanema, the "Monk of Ipanema." These are just a few examples of Agostini's cultural legacy, 145 years after his death. 20 maps and 65 photos, including 2 rare photos of Agostini, one taken in 1857 and one taken in 1861.

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