Meanwhile in 1863, some leading Italian mountaineers, including Quintino Sella, Bartolomeo Gastaldi and Felice Giordano, gathered at the Castle of Valentino in Turin to discuss the formation of an Alpine Society; and it was secretly proposed there to attempt at once some feat that should bring honour to the institution at its birth.
He was also admitted into various orders of knight hood, including named to the Order of the Crown of Italy by King Vittorio Emanuele III, and to the Order of Santi Maurizio e Lazzaro, by King Umberto I following the inauguration of his monument to Quintino Sella in Biella (won commission by competition).
Mountain Wilderness was founded in 1987 in Biella, Italy during an international conference convened by Ludovico Sella, scion of a prominent piedmontese family of financiers, statesmen and mountaineers, among which Quintino Sella, the 19th century founder of the Italian Alpine Club.
The Valtournanche natives who started to facilitate the way up the southwest ridge of the Matterhorn for Felice Giordano and Quintino Sella, pitched their tent upon Whymper third platform, at the foot of the Great Tower (12,992 ft), and enjoyed several days of bad weather under its shelter.
It was first described in 1868 and named for Italian mining engineer and mineralogist Quintino Sella (1827–1884).