He is best known for his hydrogen balloon flight in 1849, crossing the Alps from Marseilles to Turin. He departed from the Chateau-des-Fleurs at 6.30pm on 2 September 1849 and ascended to about over the Massif de l'Esterel. He passed Monte Viso in the Cottian Alps at 1:30am on 3 September, to the south of Mont Blanc, at about and landed at 2.30am on 3 September, on a farm in the village of Pion Porte, near Stupinigi, about west of Turin.