Benigno Ferrera was an Italian cross-country skier from Val Formazza, in the Piedmont region near the Switzerland border. In the 1910s he joined the Sci Club Formazza. In the 1920s the legend of the Valle Invincibile (Unbeatable Valley) was born, with athletes like Achille Bacher, Pio Imboden and others in a group nicknamed the Formazzini. Between 1920 and 1932 the Val Formazza won the Valligiani, the most important team race in Italian cross-country skiing of the era, seven times. In 1924, at the age of 30, Ferrera competed at the first edition of the Olympic Winter Games where he finished 13th in the 50 km. Domestically, in the 18 km, he won a gold in 1915 and a bronze in 1922 at the national championships.
Italy