Lampo
Dog Lampo.
Speciesdomestic dog
Breedmongrel
SexMale
Borncirca 1950
Died22 July 1961
Campiglia Marittima, Italy
Resting placeCampiglia Marittima, Italy
OwnerElvio Barlettani

Lampo (c. 1950 – 22 July 1961) was a mixed-breed dog that became famous for his rail journeys across Italy.[1]

History

Lampo on the locomotive.

In August 1953, Lampo, then a stray dog, got off a cargo train at the Campiglia Marittima railway station in Italy and was adopted by the stationmaster Elvio Barlettani, despite the strict rail regulations.[2] Soon the dog had learned the train schedules, distinguishing the slow trains from the fast ones and how to get somewhere every day and return at sunset.[3] Almost every morning he traveled by train from Campiglia Marittima to Piombino to accompany Mirna, the stationmaster's daughter in her way to school. He then was returned to Campiglia on a different train. He would often board other trains, traversing by himself the italian railroad network, always returning to base in Campiglia Marittima by train.

After a few years, the management of the Florence railway forced Barlettani to remove the dog. Lampo was put on a cargo train to Naples, but he managed to return after a few days. Later Lampo was given to a friend of the stationmaster in Barletta. After about five months, the dog managed to return to Campiglia Marittima, where he officially became the mascot of the railway station. His story intrigued journalists around the world, who dedicated television services, articles and covers to his story.[4]

On the evening of July 22, 1961 in Campiglia Marittima, a maneuvering cargo train hit the dog, who was then buried in the flowerbed at the foot of an acacia tree at the railway station.

Commemoration

Monument of Lampo at the Campiglia Marittima railway station.

Shortly after his death, thanks to railway workers and the American magazine This Week, a monument was inaugurated at the Campiglia Marittima railway station in memory of Lampo.

In 1962 the book Lampo, the Traveling Dog (Italian: Lampo, il cane viaggiatore) was written by the stationmaster, Elvio Barlettani (died July 2006). The Garzanti publishing house published the book. It became successful with about fifteen editions until 2009 and has been translated into English, French,[5] German,[6] Japanese[7] and Bengali.

In 1967 story of Lampo was fictionalized by the Polish writer Roman Pisarski in the short story O psie, który jeździł koleją (Polish: About the dog that traveled by train) that has become school reading in the third grade classes of primary schools in Poland.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Prieur, Jean (1990). Gli animali hanno un'anima (in Italian). Edizioni Mediterranee. ISBN 9788827208281.
  2. ↑ "Lampo cane viaggiatore". www.clamfer.it. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  3. ↑ "Lampo the Traveling Dog Rode the Rail to Fame". The Milwaukee Journal. 1968-10-16.
  4. ↑ "Famous Dogs: Lampo, the travelling dog". Look and learn. 1967-04-22.
  5. ↑ "Lampo, chien voyageur".
  6. ↑ Daniel Hörnemann (2015). "Lampo – der Eisenbahn(er)hund" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. ↑ "Morto Elvio Barlettani, padre di Lampo - Il Tirreno". Archivio - Il Tirreno (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  8. ↑ Vp (2014-04-20). "Livorno Daily Photo: Lampo, the traveling dog". Livorno Daily Photo. Retrieved 2019-08-28.

Bibliography

Filmography

  • Lampo, cane viaggiatore, 1962.
  • Il cane viaggiatore by Simone Paradisi, 2011
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