Verso l'alto

"Verso l'alto" (lit. 'Towards the top') is a motto that is widely associated with Pier Giorgio Frassati, an early 20th-century Italian mountaineer and canonised saint.

Origin

Frassati wrote the motto, verso l'alto, an Italian phrase for "toward the top" or "to the heights", on a photo of his final mountaineering before his death in 1925.[1] In Italian, the word "alto" comes from the Latin "altum", which appears in Luke 5:4: "Duc in altum." This phrase from the chapter and the verses mean "Put out into the deep", the deep waters, including leaving behind the comfort of shallows or taking a risk for the catch. In Gloria, the "alto" also appears as "Gloria in excelsis Deo" and is translated "Gloria a Dio nell’alto dei cieli". "Gloria a Dio nell’alto dei cieli" means "the heights of heaven" or simply "the highest".[2]

Meaning of the phrase

"Verso l'alto" is a descriptive symbol, or a metaphor, that emerges from the "deep interiority of a saint to offer some orientation for those of us drawn to the mountains".[3] In other words, this phrase does not have to do with climbing to a summit of a mountain, but expressing the "Eucharist heart in a body that climbs, and a soul that remains spiritually oriented towards a different summit."[3]

Legacy

Since "verso l'alto" became Frassati's signature phrase, Pope Leo XIV quoted it during his canonization alongside with Carlo Acutis on 7 September 2025: "The day of my death will be the most beautiful day of my life. In his last photo, which shows him climbing a mountain in the Val di Lanzo, with his face turned towards his goal, he wrote: Verso l'alto." On Leo XIV's 70th birthday, the first time the Church had a 70-year-old pope since 1990, the phrase provides an image of Sunday's mass during the year of the beautification of Frassati.[2]

References

  1. ^ Gardiner, Cerith. "Take the Verso l'Alto pledge and follow Pier Giorgio". Aleteia. Aleteia.
  2. ^ a b Souza, Father Raymond J. de (12 September 2025). "Verso L'Alto: St. Pier Giorgio Frassati's Motto Is Christ's Invitation to You". National Catholic Registry. National Catholic Registry. Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  3. ^ a b Nepil, Father John. "The True Meaning of "Verso l'Alto"". Those Catholic Men. Those Catholic Men. Retrieved 22 January 2026.."
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