Filippo Buonarroti – revolutionary conspirator

Writer paved the way for the 1848 revolutions in Europe

Filippo Buonarotti, whose writings inspired
social revolutionaries across Europe

Filippo Buonarroti, whose political writing inspired many other famous socialists, including Karl Marx, was born on this day in 1761 in Pisa.

Sometimes referred to as Philippe Buonarroti because he spent many years living in France, working to further the cause of the revolution there, the writer was born into a noble family. His father was a direct descendant of the brother of the artist Michelangelo Buonarroti.

Filippo Buonarroti studied Law at the University of Pisa, where he founded what was seen at the time as a subversive newspaper, the Gazetta Universale. It is thought that he joined a Masonic Lodge at about the same time.

Although he was kept under surveillance by the authorities in Italy, Buonarroti expressed support for the French Revolution when it broke out in 1789.

Buonarroti travelled to Corsica to spread the revolutionary message through a newspaper, Giornale Patriottico di Corsica, which was the first newspaper written in the Italian language that supported the French Revolution openly. There, he became a friend of the Buonaparte family, from which Napoleon originated.

After being expelled from Corsica in 1791, Buonarroti returned to Tuscany, where he was arrested and imprisoned.

But in 1793, he was able to travel to Paris, where Maximilien Robespierre, a central figure during the French Revolution, put him in charge of organising the expatriate Italian revolutionaries, from a base in Nice.

Maximilien Robespierre, with 
whom Buonarotti worked in Paris

Buonarroti denounced the Corsican patriot Filippo Pasquale de’ Paoli to the French authorities and was rewarded for his revolutionary activities with a special decree of French citizenship in 1793. He was also nominated as National Commissioner of Oneglia, a port in Liguria, in 1795.

But after Robespierre was imprisoned and later executed, Buonarroti was recalled to Paris and imprisoned. It was in prison that he met the journalist and revolutionary Gracchus Babeuf, and he became one of his most fervent co-conspirators. 

Buonarroti was rounded up with other Babeuf supporters in 1796. But although Babeuf himself was guillotined, Buonarroti was imprisoned on the French island of Oleron. He was allowed to go free after Napoleon Bonaparte took charge of the Government in France in 1799.

He then spent time in Geneva and Brussels, but returned to Paris after the second revolution broke out there in 1830. He died in Paris in 1837 and is buried in the Montmartre Cemetery. 

Filippo Buonarroti’s book, History of Babeuf’s Conspiracy of Equals, published in 1828, was seen as an essential textbook for revolutionaries. It put forward a strategy to revolutionise society in stages, from monarchy to liberalism, then moving towards radicalism, and finally to communism.

It has been claimed that the French political philosopher and activist Louis Auguste Blanqui learnt many of his tactics from Buonarroti.  Many revolutionaries in Europe also regarded his work as a cornerstone for their activities. In total, Buonarroti wrote six works about his revolutionary principles.

The Russian revolutionary Mikhail Bakunin once praised Buonarroti as ‘the greatest conspirator of his age.’

The inner courtyard of the 15th century Palazzo
 della Sapienza, the heart of the University of Pisa

Travel tip:

Pisa, the town of Filippo Buonarotti’s birth, is famous the world over for its Leaning Tower, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy. Already tilting when it was completed in 1372 as the bell tower of the cathedral, it can be found in Piazza del Duomo, which is also known as Piazza dei Miracoli, in the centre of Pisa. The University of Pisa, where Buonarroti was a student, was founded in 1343, making it the tenth oldest in Italy. The university houses Europe’s oldest academic botanical garden. The main university buildings are in and around Lungarno Antonio Pacinotti, overlooking the River Arno, and they are a short walk away from the Leaning Tower. There is a school named after him in Pisa and streets commemorating him in Pisa, Livorno and Imperia.

The port area is one of the most 
historic parts of Oneglia

Travel tip:

Buonarroti was appointed by the French as National Commissioner of Oneglia, an Italian  town on the coast in the region of Liguria. Oneglia was joined to Porto Maurizio in 1923 by Mussolini to form the comune of Imperia. This area has become well known for cultivating flowers and olives and there is a Museum of the Olive in the part of the city that used to be Oneglia. One of Italy’s most famous olive oil producers and connoisseurs, Filippo Berio, was born in Oneglia in 1829.  The Porto Maurizio area of Imperia is characterised by steep, narrow streets and loggias with an elevated position offering views across the Ligurian Sea, while Oneglia is on the whole a modern town, one exception being the streets behind the Calata Cuneo in the port area.

Also on this day:

1696: The birth of composer and violinist Andrea Zani

1854: The birth of socialist activist Alessandro Mussolini

1869: The birth of future King Victor Emmanuel III

1932: The birth of sports presenter Germano Mosconi

1961: The birth of actor Luca Zingaretti

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Ulisse Dini – mathematician and politician

Patriotic professor was proud to serve the new Kingdom of Italy

Ulisse Dini went to Paris to further
his mathematical education

The mathematician Ulisse Dini, who wrote many books and papers based on his research and came up with original theories that advanced the knowledge in his field, died on this day in 1918 in Pisa.

Now regarded as one of the 19th century's most important contributors to the evolution of mathematics, Dini was also active as a politician and was elected to Pisa city council before becoming a member of the parliament of the new Kingdom of Italy. 

His political views were shaped by the changing landscape of Italy while he was growing up, as the country moved closer to unification, and he was always keen to help his local area and his country.

Originally intending to become a teacher, Dini, who was born in Pisa in 1845 when the city was part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, attended the Scuola Superiore in Pisa, a teachers’ college, where one of his teachers was the mathematician, Enrico Betti.

However, in 1865, Dini received a scholarship that enabled him to go to Paris to further his mathematical studies, where he was taught by the French mathematicians, Charles Hermite and Joseph Bertrand. He produced seven mathematical publications based on the research he was able to do while living in Paris.

The following year he was appointed by the University of Pisa to teach algebra and geodesy, the science of measuring and representing the geometry, gravity, and spatial orientation of the earth in temporally varying 3D. 

Dini succeeded Betti as professor for analysis and geometry at the university in 1871. He was rettore - rector - of Pisa University from 1888 until 1890, and of the Scuola Superiore in Pisa from 1908 until his death. One of his students at Pisa University was the Italian mathematician, Luigi Bianchi.

Enrico Betti was 
Dini's teacher

Professor Dini is particularly known for his contribution to the branch of mathematics known as real analysis, which studies the behaviours of real numbers, sequences and series of real numbers, and real functions. He collected his theories in his book, ‘Fondamenti per la teorica delle funzioni di variabili reali’, a collection of ideas that were entirely originated by himself. 

Despite his heavy academic workload, Dini had entered politics by the age of 25, when he was elected to the city council in Pisa.

When Dini was 13, the fight had begun to win back areas of the country from the Austrian occupying forces. Within a few years, forces representing the Kingdom of Sardinia had gained control of many areas in central Italy. Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia later assumed the title of King of Italy, and Giuseppe Garibaldi and his 1000 volunteers set out to unify the country, starting by invading Sicily. With his forces, Garibaldi gradually moved northwards up the peninsula and this led to the official proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

Ulisse Dini is remembered by historians and writers as an upright, honest, and kind man, and for being devoted to the well-being of his city and country. He divided his time between teaching and research and public service, and in 1892 he became a senator in the Italian parliament. 

In the field of mathematical analysis, he is remembered for being the originator of Dini criterion and Implicit function theorem. He was considered one of the most important European mathematicians of the 19th century and he was elected as an honorary member of the London Mathematical Society.

After his death, Dini was buried in Pisa’s monumental cemetery, Campo Santo, on the northern edge of the Campo dei Miracoli. There is a statue commemorating his life in Via Ulisse Dini in the city’s historic centre. 

The 15th century Palazzo della Sapienza, built by
the Medici family, remains the heart of the university

Travel tip: 

The University of Pisa, founded in 1343, is one of the oldest in Italy and rivals Rome’s Sapienza University for the title of the country’s best. Various scholars place its origins in the 11th century, although those claims have never been verified. What is certain is that the papal seal “In Supremae dignitatis”, issued by Pope Clement VI on 3 September 1343, granted the Studium in Pisa the title of Studium Generale. At the outset in Pisa, lessons in Theology, Civil Law, Canon Law and Medicine were established. In its early years, the university struggled to survive at times, but investment from the Medici family in the 15th century saw the construction of the Palazzo della Sapienza, still the centre of the present-day university. Cosimo I de’ Medici instituted programmes to improve the quality of teaching and later Galileo Galilei, universally seen as the founder of modern science, was initially a student and then a teacher of Mathematics at the university. Today, Pisa has a student population of around 50,000, who give the city a vibrant cafe and bar scene.

The bronze statue of Ulisse 
Dini was finished in 1927

Travel tip: 

The bronze sculpture of Ulisse Dini in Via Ulisse Dini was created in 1927 by Leonardo Bistolfi, a sculptor from Casale Monferrato in Piedmont, whose work was praised for its likeness to the subject.  Via Ulisse Dini goes from Borgo Stretto to Piazza dei Cavalieri and Dini’s statue stands beside the Church of Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri. Once a stream flanked by wooden houses belonging to the city’s higher social classes, the street subsequently became a centre for forges and metalworkers’ workshops. Some of the stone arches lining the modern street date back to the 12th century.  Aside from the Campo dei Miracoli, the biggest attraction of which is the city’s world famous leaning bell tower, Pisa offers visitors a wealth of well-preserved Romanesque buildings, Gothic churches and Renaissance piazzas.

Also on this day:

312: The Battle of Ponte Milvio

1639: The death of composer Stefano Landi

1922: Mussolini’s Fascists march on Rome

1963: The birth of singer-songwriter Eros Ramazzotti

1973: The death of actor and illustrator Sergio Tòfano

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Jacopo Mazzoni – philosopher

Brilliant scholar could recite long passages from Dante

Jacopo Mazzoni was known for literary
criticism as well as philosophy

Jacopo Mazzoni, a University professor with a phenomenal memory who was a friend of Galileo Galilei, died on this day in 1598 in Ferrara in Emilia-Romagna.

Mazzoni, also sometimes referred to as Giacomo Mazzoni, was regarded as one of the most eminent scholars of his period. His excellent powers of recall made him adept at recalling passages from Dante, Lucretius, Virgil and other writers during his regular debates with prominent academics. He relished taking part in memory contests, which he usually won.

Mazzoni was born in Cesena in Emilia-Romagna in 1548 and was educated at Bologna in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, rhetoric and poetics. He later attended the University of Padua where he studied philosophy and jurisprudence.

He became an authority on ancient languages and philology and promoted the scientific study of the Italian language.

Galileo Galilei was a fellow
professor at Pisa University

Although Mazzoni wrote a major work on philosophy, he became well known for his works on literary criticism, in particular for his writing in defence of Dante’s Divine Comedy - Discorso in Difesa Della Commedia della Divina Poeta Dante - published in 1572 and Della Difesa Della Commedia di Dante, which was not published until 1688.

Mazzoni was also influenced by Plato and Aristotle and often made references to their works.

In turn, his theories about poetry influenced romantic writers who came later such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Friedrich von Schiller.

Mazzoni is also credited with helping to found the Accademia della Crusca, a society of scholars of Italian linguistics and philology, in 1583. The academy, in Florence, is the oldest linguistic academy in the world and the most important research institution into the Italian language.

The pala - shovel - given to Mazzoni
by the Accademia della Crusca

Crusca is the Italian word for bran, its use a reflection of the society's symbology, which likened 'good' language to flour sifted from bran.  The society's emblem was the frullone, a machine used to separate flour from bran. The operator would load bran into the machine using a pala - shovel - and the society extended the symbolism by presenting each member with a shovel bearing the member's name and a motto, usually a line of verse.

Mazzoni worked as a university professor, first at Macerata and then at Pisa, where he taught philosophy from 1588 to 1597. It was there he met Galileo, who was a young mathematics professor at the university. They became good friends and in May 1597, Galileo wrote Mazzoni a letter in which he commented on Mazzoni’s latest book, In universam Platonis et Aristotelis philosophiam praeludia, and also stated his inclination towards the Copernican system over the Ptolemaic one.

Later that year, Mazzoni accepted the chair in philosophy at Rome’s La Sapienza University.

He was asked to accompany Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini on a mission to Venice in 1598. After they stopped off in Ferrara on the way back, Mazzoni was taken ill and later died. He was 57 years old.

The Rocca Malatestiana in Cesena, once a prison, now
houses a museum of agriculture

Travel tip:

Cesena, the birthplace of Jacopo Mazzoni, is a city in Emilia-Romagna, south of Ravenna and west of Rimini. One of the main sights in the town is the 15th century Biblioteca Malatestiana, which houses many valuable manuscripts and was the first public library in Europe. The library has been preserved in its 15th century condition and is now a listed UNESCO World Heritage site. The city’s castle, the Rocca Malatestiana, was used by Cesare Borgia as a prison during the Italian Wars and is now a museum.

The Castello Estense is the centrepiece of the city
of Ferrara, where Mazzoni died

Travel tip:

Ferrara, where Jacopo Mazzoni died, is a city in Emilia-Romagna, about 50 km (31 miles) to the northeast of Bologna. It was ruled by the Este family between 1240 and 1598. Building work on the magnificent moated Este Castle (Castello Estense) in the centre of the city began in 1385 and the castle was added to and improved by successive rulers of Ferrara until the end of the Este line. The castle was purchased for 70,000 lire by the province of Ferrara in 1874 to be used as the headquarters of the Prefecture. You can still see Ferrara’s original narrow, medieval streets to the west and south of the city centre, between the main thoroughfares of Via Ripa Grande and Via Garibaldi. These were the original heart of the city in the middle ages before the Este family redesigned it.

Also on this day:

1726: The birth of physicist Giovanni Aldini

1886: The death of physician and politician Agostino Bertani

1926: Airship leaves Rome for the North Pole

1991: The Moby Prince disaster

(Picture credits - Mazzoni's shovel by Sailko CC-BY-3.0; Rocca Malatestiana by Otello Amaducci CC-BY-SA 3.0) 


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Enrico Bombieri – Mathematician

Brilliant professor who won top award in his field at just 34

Enrico Bombieri is one of the
world's leading mathematicians

The mathematician Enrico Bombieri, one of the world’s leading authorities on number theory and analysis, which has practical application in the world of encryption and data transmission, was born on this day in 1940 in Milan.

Bombieri, who is also an accomplished painter, won the Fields Medal, an international award for outstanding discoveries in mathematics regarded in the field of mathematical sciences as equivalent to a Nobel Prize, when he was a 34-year-old professor at the University of Pisa in 1974.

As well as analytic number theory, he has become renowned for his expertise in other areas of highly advanced mathematics including algebraic geometry, univalent functions, theory of several complex variables, partial differential equations of minimal surfaces, and the theory of finite groups.

Mathematics textbooks now refer to several discoveries named after him in his own right or with fellow researchers, including the Bombieri-Lang conjecture, the Bombieri norm and the Bombieri–Vinogradov theorem.

Enrico Bombieri read his first book of algebra when he was
eight and wrote his first scholarly article when he was 17

He has been described as a "problem-oriented" scholar - one who tries to solve deep problems rather than to build theories.

According to colleagues, his analytical ability, combined with great powers of innovation, enable him to recognize elements of a solution that may already be present and to apply techniques and results from other fields to reach a final conclusion.

The fourth child and only son of a banker in Milan, Bombieri is said to have read his first algebra book at the age of eight.

He became more seriously interested in maths began at high school when, as a 15-year-old student, he picked up a book on number theory that introduced him to the great 19th century German mathematician Bernhard Riemann. He developed a fascination with numbers that never left him.

He published his first scholarly article in 1957, while still only 16 years old. In 1963, aged 22, he graduated in mathematics at the University of Milan and then studied at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Enrico Bombieri emigrated to the
United States in 1977

Between 1963 and 1966, Bombieri was an assistant professor and then a full professor at the University of Cagliari, holding the same position at the University of Pisa until 1974 and then at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa from 1974 to 1977.

From Pisa he emigrated in 1977 to the United States, where he became a professor at the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. In 2011 he became professor emeritus.

Bombieri has always been keen to disprove the notion that mathematicians are by nature single-focused nerds with no interests beyond their own field.

As a young man, he was a student of Alpine botany, in particular wild orchids, and has become an accomplished painter.

He experimented with pencil drawings and water colours at a young age and throughout his academic life has always carried paints and brushes with him on his travels.

He began to take his art more seriously after moving to the United States, enrolling to study study painting and printmaking at Mercer County Community College at West Windsor, New Jersey.

Bombieri paints people, animals and landscapes. His paintings are described as often surreal or intentionally ambiguous, although he also accepts commissions for portraits.

One work he is said to have been particularly proud of depicts a giant chessboard by a lake, with pieces placed to represent a critical point in the historic match between world champion Garry Kasparov and the chess-playing computer, Deep Blue.

Bombieri himself was a member of the Cambridge University chess team during his time at Trinity College.

The cloister at the main building of the University of Milan,
founded in 1924 after the merger of other institutions 

Travel tip:

The University of Milan was founded in 1924 from the merger of the Accademia Scientifico-Letteraria (Scientific-Literary Academy)and the Istituti Clinici di Perfezionamento (Clinical Specialisation Institutes), established in 1906. By 1928, the University already had the fourth-highest number of enrolled students in Italy, after Naples, Rome and Padua. Its premises are located primarily in Città Studi, the university district which was developed from 1915 onwards to the northeast of the city centre, although there are other buildings around the city that are now part of the University.  The streets of the Città Studi area are notable for bars, pizza restaurants and ice cream shops.

There is much more to historic Pisa than the
Campo dei Miracoli and the Leaning Tower

Travel tip:

Many visitors to Pisa confine themselves to the Campo dei Miracoli, where the attractions are the famous Leaning Tower, the handsome Romanesque cathedral and its impressive baptistry. But there is much more to Pisa. The University of Pisa, founded in 1343, now has elite status, rivalling Rome’s Sapienza University as the best in Italy, and a student population of around 50,000 makes for a vibrant cafe and bar scene. There is also much to see in the way of Romanesque buildings, Gothic churches and Renaissance piazzas.


More reading:

Einstein's favourite mathematician

Salvador Luria - Nobel Prize-winning microbiologist

Grazia Deledda - the first Italian woman to win a Nobel Prize

Also on this day:

1908: The birth of businessman and hotelier Charles Forte

1949: The birth of politician and businesswoman Letizia Moratti

1963: The death of opera singer Amelita Galli-Curci


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Francesco Barberini – Cardinal

Patron of the arts sympathised with Galileo

Francesco Barberini knew Galileo from his
days as a student at the University of Pisa

Francesco Barberini, a cardinal who as Grand Inquisitor of the Roman Inquisition refused to condemn the scientist Galileo Galilei as a heretic, was born on this day in 1597 in Florence.

As a cardinal working within the Vatican administration, Barberini also became an important patron of literature and the arts.

The son of Carlo Barberini and Costanza Magalotti, Francesco was assisted by Galileo during his studies at the University of Pisa. The scientist was also a family friend. Francesco graduated in canon and civil law at the age of 25 in 1623.

Later that year, his uncle, Maffeo Barberini, who had been recently elected as Pope Urban VIII, made him a cardinal and sent him to be papal legate to Avignon.

He was sent to Paris as a special legate to negotiate with Cardinal Richelieu and then to Spain as a papal legate, but both his missions were unsuccessful.

From 1628 onwards Barberini led the foreign diplomacy of the Papal States, always favouring France.

Galileo subscribed to the view that the Earth
was not the centre of the universe

From 1633 until his death more than 40 years later, Barberini was the Grand Inquisitor of the Roman Inquisition. He was part of the Inquisition tribunal investigating Galileo after the publication of writings supporting the arguments put forward by the German scientist Nicolaus Copernicus that the sun and not the earth was the centre of the universe.

He was one of three members of the tribunal who refused to condemn the scientist, although the majority verdict was that Galileo was "vehemently suspect of heresy" and he was sentenced him to indefinite imprisonment, later commuted to house arrest, where he remained until his death in 1642.

The Barberini family fortunes declined after hostilities between the papacy and the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza led to the First War of Castro in which the papacy did badly. Peace was concluded only a few months before the death of Urban VIII.

Once it became clear that the Barberini candidate for the papacy was not going to be elected. Francesco and his brother, Antonio, switched their support to Giovanni Battista Pamphili.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini's bust of  Barberini,
 in the National Gallery of Art in Washington

But after Pamphili became Pope Innocent X, he launched an investigation into their handling of the finances during the War of Castro, forcing the Barberini brothers to flee to Paris.

Two years later, Francesco Barberini was pardoned, his properties were restored to him and he was able to continue as a patron of the arts.

He was a member of various literary associations and secured altarpiece commissions for St Peter’s from prominent artists, such as Pietro da Cortona and the French Baroque painter, Poussin.

Barberini bought several paintings by Poussin for himself during the artist’s early years living in Rome.

In 1625 he had acquired the former Sforza palace and, after buying further land, he engaged the architect, Carlo Maderno, to transform it into a much larger and grander building, which eventually became Palazzo Barberini.

Francesco Barberini died in Rome in 1679 at the age of 82.

The Palazzo alla Giornata on the Arno embankment is
one of the main buildings of the University of Pisa

Travel tip:

The University of Pisa, where Galileo taught and Francesco Barberini studied, was founded in 1343 making it the 10th oldest in Italy and it houses Europe’s oldest academic botanical garden. The main University buildings are in and around Lungarno Antonio Pacinotti, overlooking the River Arno, a short walk from the city’s famous Leaning Tower.

The Palazzo Barberini was Barberini's home in the
centre of Rome, just off Piazza Barberini

Travel tip:

Palazzo Barberini is just off Piazza Barberini in the centre of Rome. It was completed in 1633 as a home for Francesco Barberini and was the work of three great architects, Carlo Maderno, Francesco Borromini and Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The palace now houses part of the collection of Italy’s National Gallery of Ancient Art.

More reading:

Galileo Galilei convicted of heresy

How Carlo Maderno created the facade of St Peter's  

Pope Innocent X and revenge for Castro

Also on this day:

1943: Mussolini proclaims the puppet republic of Salò

1956: The birth of World Cup hero Paolo Rossi


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Paolo Mascagni – physician

Scientist was first to map the human lymphatic system

Paolo Mascagni studied geology before turning
to human science and anatomy

The physician Paolo Mascagni, whose scientific research enabled him to create the first map of the complete human lymphatic system, was born on this day in 1755 in Pomarance, a small town in Tuscany about 40km (25 miles) inland from the western coastline.

Mascagni described his findings in a book with detailed illustrations of every part of the lymphatic system he had identified, which was to prove invaluable to physicians wanting to learn more about a part of the human body vital to the regulation of good health.

He also commissioned the sculptor Clemente Susini to create a full-scale model in wax of the lymphatic system, which can still be seen at the Museum of Human Anatomy at the University of Bologna.

Later he created another significant tome, his Anatomia Universa, which comprises 44 enormous copperplate illustrations that set out to bring together in one book the full extent of human knowledge about the anatomy of the human body.  The ‘book’ in the event was so large it was never bound, each plate measuring more than 3ft 6ins (1.07m) by 2ft 6ins (0.76m), designed in such a way that those from the same plane of dissection can be placed together and show the whole body in life size.

Mascagni was the son of Aurelio Mascagni and Elisabetta Burroni, both belonging to ancient noble families from Chiusdino, a village in the province of Siena.

An illustration from Mascagni's celebrated
book on the human lymphatic system

He studied at the University of Siena, where his teacher of anatomy was Pietro Tabarrini, and graduated in philosophy and medicine in 1771. By his final year, he had been appointed assistant to Tabarrini and succeeded his mentor as Professor of Anatomy after blindness forced him to retire.

As a young man, Mascagni had been keen on geology and wrote a number of papers on the thermal springs of Siena and Volterra. Later, he would successfully identify boric acid in the waters and suggest ways to produce from it the industrial compound now known as borax.

After graduating, his focus turned to the human lymphatic system, feeling that he owed it to Tabarrini to do what he could to advance his teacher’s research into the workings of the human body. He decided that he would not work in clinical medicine but devote himself entirely to teaching and research.

His work was interrupted for a while by the political upheaval of the late 18^th century, when Tuscany was occupied by the French. He became involved in politics somewhat reluctantly, becoming Superintendent of the Arts, Sciences and Charitable Institutions of Siena, and this placed him in constant conflict with the French authorities over their seizing of personal and public property.

Unfortunately, his involvement with the French was misinterpreted when Austria regained control of the area. Accused of having Jacobin sympathies, he was arrested and imprisoned for seven months.

The statue of Mascagni in the courtyard of the
Uffizi in Florence, where he lived for some years

On his release, he was appointed a professor of anatomy at the University of Pisa and began lecturing at the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence before becoming a full professor at the University of Florence.

In his research into the lymphatic system, Mascagni perfected a technique whereby he injected mercury as a contrast medium into the peripheral lymphatic networks of a human cadaver and by following the mercury’s flow to other parts of the system was able to produce detailed diagrams and models.

This brought him fame all over Europe, yet he did not limit himself to merely describing the anatomy of the lymphatic system.  By his research into its physiology and pathology he was able to highlight its importance in fighting disease in the human body, the understanding of which helped in the evolution of new treatments.

Mascagni died in 1815 during a stay at his estate in Castelletto, near Chiusdino, the village near Siena where his family originated and where he spent most of his free time. He had contracted a pernicious fever, probably malaria.

His memory has been commemorated in several ways. The street where he was born in Pomerance is now called Via Paolo Mascagni; the hamlet where the family lived, 33km (20 miles) southwest of Siena, is now known as Castelletto Mascagni, and there is another Via Paolo Mascagni in nearby Chiusdino.

A statue of Paolo Mascagni can be found in a niche in the courtyard of the Uffizi in Florence, as one of the great men of Tuscany.  His house in Florence was in Via Fiesolana.  There is also a monument to him in the Accademia dei Fisiocritici in Siena, of which he was president.

One of the medieval gates into the town of Pomarance

Travel tip:

The town of Pomarance, where Mascagni was born, sits on a hill overlooking Val di Cecina, on the border between the provinces of Pisa, 80km (50 miles) to the north, and Siena, 69km (43 miles) to the east. The main square, Piazza de Larderel, is named after Francois Jacques de Lardarel, a 19^th century French engineer who worked in the area on the exploitation of geothermal energy from the steam emitted by lagoons in the area.

The ancient village of Chiusdino occupies a hilltop position

Travel tip:

The ancient village of Chiusdino dates back to the seventh or eighth century, when it was a Longobard settlement, sitting on the top of a hill, surrounded by walls. Much of the history of the town surrounds the legend of San Galgano, who was an arrogant, licentious son of a local feudal lord in the 12^th century who changed his ways after a supposed visit from Saint Michael the Archangel, who told him he must give up his excesses, prompting Galgano to say it would be easier to cut a rock with a sword. As if to prove it, he launched a sword thrust at a rock and was amazed when the blade plunged into the rock as easily as a knife into butter. He knelt to pray and vowed to become a hermit. The sword in the rock remains on display in a chapel, the Rotonda della Spada, that was built around it.

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Guglielmo Libri – book thief

Nobleman stole more than 30,000 books and documents

Guglielmo Libri is thought to have stolen more
than 30,000 books, manuscripts and letters

The notorious 19^th century thief Guglielmo Libri, who stole tens of thousands of historic books, manuscripts and letters, many of which have never been found, was born on this day in 1803 in Florence.

A distinguished and decorated academic, Libri was an avid collector of historic documents whose passion for adding to his collections ultimately became an addiction he could not satisfy by legal means alone.

He stole on a large scale from the historic Laurentian Library in Florence but it was after he was appointed Chief Inspector of French Libraries in 1841 – he had been a French citizen since 1833 – that his nefarious activities reached their peak.

As the man responsible for cataloguing valuable books and precious manuscripts across the whole of France, Libri had privileged access to the official archives of many cities and was able to spend many hours in dusty vaults completely unhindered and unsupervised.

He was in a position to “borrow” such items as he required in the interests of research with no pressure to return them. Where the removal of a book or document was forbidden, he would smuggle them out under the huge cape that he insisted on wearing – on the grounds of supposedly poor health – even in the height of summer.

Although he began to arouse suspicion, it was not until 1848 that a warrant was issued in France for his arrest.  Tipped off, Libri had already fled to London, taking with him about 18 trunks containing more than 30,000 documents.

Some 72 letters written by Descartes were
thought to have been stolen by Libri

These included 72 letters written by the great French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes, as well as the Tours Pentateuch, a late sixth or early seventh-century illuminated Latin manuscript of the first five books of the Old Testament, which he stole from the Library of Tours.

With no extradition agreement existing between France and Britain at that time, Libri was thus able to evade justice, even though he was tried in absentia in 1850 and sentenced to 10 years’ jail.

Indeed, he lived a good life in London, mainly by selling books, often to members of the English nobility, or else at auction.

The Tours Pentateuch later became known as the Ashburnham Pentateuch after it was sold to the 4^th Earl of Ashburnham by Libri in 1847.  Two auction sales in 1861 are said to have netted him more than one million francs.

Born Count Guglielmo Libri Carucci dalla Sommaja, he was a precocious academic who began studying law at the University of Pisa at the age of 16 before switching to mathematics and being appointed professor of mathematical physics at the age of just 20.

He made many friends in Paris during a sabbatical visit in 1824 and when his involvement back in Italy with the secret revolutionary plotters known as the Carbonari led to the threat of arrest, it was to Paris that he escaped.

Libri's History of Mathematical Sciences
drew on stolen documents

He became a French citizen in 1833 and his academic stock continued to rise. He obtained a professorship at the Collège de France and in 1834 he was elected as assistant professor in the calculus of probabilities at the Sorbonne and elevated to the French Academy of Sciences.

Between 1838 and 1841, Libri wrote a four-volume tome entitled History of the Mathematical Sciences in Italy from the Renaissance of literature to the 17th Century, drawing from 1800 manuscripts and books by Galileo, Descartes, Leibniz and others which he claimed were in his personal collection. It was discovered later that many had been stolen from the Laurentian Library.

He cultivated contacts in high places to protect his reputation. His appointment as Chief Inspector of French Libraries, for example, came about through his friendship with the influential French Chief of Police, François Guizot.

Libri remained in England until 1868, when his declining health persuaded him to return to Italy.  He died the following year in Fiesole, just outside Florence, at the age of 66.

Although many of the huge number of items Libri stole have never been returned, having been forgotten about or left to gather dust in private libraries and storerooms, one of the missing Descartes letters, written in 1641 to Father Marin Marsenne, the priest and polymath who oversaw the publication of his Meditations on First Philosophy, turned up at Haverford College in Pennsylvania in 2010.

The Laurentian Library - the long building in the middle of
this picture - was fitted out to a design by Michelangelo

Travel tip:

The Laurentian Library – the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana – dates back to 1523, when the Medici pope Clement VII commissioned it to be built in a cloister of the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence, which is situated between the Duomo and Santa Maria Novella railway station. Home to some 11,000 manuscripts and 4,500 historic books, it was built to designs by Michelangelo in Mannerist style and is considered one of his greatest achievements, not only for elegance of its architectural features but for the innovative use for space to maximise the library’s capacity without detracting from its aesthetic beauty.

The remains of the Roman amphitheatre at Fiesole 

Travel tip:

Fiesole, a town of around 14,000 inhabitants, is situated about 8km (5 miles) northeast of Florence on a hill offering panoramic views. It was built on the site of an Etruscan city probably founded in the eighth or ninth century BC. In the middle ages it grew to be as powerful as Florence until it was conquered by the latter in 1125 after a series of wars. Among several notable sights is its 11^th century Romanesque Cathedral of St Romulus and many Roman remains, including those of an amphitheatre still used for open-air concerts during the summer.  Historically popular with wealthy Florentines as a place to build their villas, it still has the reputation of an upmarket residential area.

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Gabriele Falloppio – anatomist and physician

Professor made key discoveries about human reproduction   

Gabriele Falloppio advanced knowledge
of medicine significantly

Gabriele Falloppio, one of the most important physicians and anatomists of the 16^th century, died on this day in 1562 in Padua.

Often known by his Latin name Fallopius, he lived only 39 years yet made his mark with a series of discoveries that expanded medical knowledge significantly.

He worked mainly on the anatomy of the head and the reproductive organs in both sexes and is best known for identifying the tubes that connect the ovaries to the uterus, which are known even today as Fallopian tubes.

He also discovered several major nerves of the head and face, and identified many of the components of the hearing and balance systems.

Falloppio described all of the findings of his research in a book published a year before he died, entitled Observationes anatomicae.

Educated initially in the classics, the death of his father plunged his family – noble but not wealthy – into financial difficulties, prompting him to pursue the security of a career in the church, becoming a priest in 1542. He served as a canon at the cathedral in his native Modena.

Falloppio retained an ambition to study medicine, however, and when the family’s finances had improved sufficiently he enrolled at the University of Ferrara, which at the time had one of the best medical schools in Europe.

A painting shows Falloppio (left) explaining one of his
discoveries to the Cardinal Duke of Ferrara and other clergy

He studied under Antonio Musa Brassavolo, who at the time was one of the most eminent physicians in Europe, with a list of illustrious clients that included King Henry VIII of England, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, the French king Francis I and a succession of popes.

After receiving his doctorate in medicine, he worked at various medical schools before becoming professor of anatomy at Ferrara in 1548.  A year later, he was invited to occupy the chair of anatomy at the University of Pisa.

Falloppio gained much of his knowledge from dissecting cadavars, not only those of adult humans but children and animals.  During his time at Pisa he was falsely accused of human vivisection, but despite the cloud this cast over him he was appointed to the prestigious chair of anatomy at the University of Padua, where he would remain until his death from tuberculosis.

The Flemish anatomist Andreas Vesalius was among his predecessors in the Padua chair.  It was the work of Vesalius that prompted a surge of interest in dissections and probably inspired Falloppio, who studied the observations of his predecessor in great detail and sought to build on them.

 The title page of Falloppio's book
of Anatomical Observations

Despite his short working life, he left an enormous legacy of research.

He carried out investigations on the larynx and on respiration, and made important discoveries about bone growth. He described the ethmoid bone, the lacrimal duct, and his description of the middle and inner ear includes the first clear account of the round and oval windows, the cochlea, the semi-circular canals, and the scala vestibuli and tympani.

In the area of reproduction, as well as being the first to identify the Fallopian tubes, he proved the existence of the hymen in virgins, gave names to many features of the reproductive anatomy and disproved many popular notions about the mechanics of the reproductive process.

He can also be credited with inventing one of the earliest condoms, a sheath made from linen soaked in a medicinal chemical to be worn to protect the wearer from contracting syphilis.

Falloppio published two treatises on ulcers and tumors, a treatise on surgery, and a commentary on Hippocrates's book on wounds of the head.  He also researched the science of baths and thermal waters and of purgatives, and put forward important theories about the formation of fossils.

The anatomical theatre at the University of Padua

Travel tip:

The University of Padua includes nine museums, a botanical garden – best visited in the spring and summer – and the oldest surviving permanent anatomical theatre in Europe, built in around 1595 and which used to hold public dissections, which attracted scientists and artists in large numbers, keen to enhance their knowledge of the human body.

Statues line the canal in the elliptical Prato della Valle

Travel tip:

The city of Padua, situated in the Veneto a 30-45 minute train ride from Venice and an hour and a half from the international airport at Treviso, is most famous for the Giotto frescoes at the Scrovegni Chapel and for the Basilica of St Anthony of Padua. Both attract thousands of visitors and the Scrovegni Chapel requires advance booking.  The city itself is an attractive place to explore, with a wealth of fine, historic buildings to discover along its pleasant arcaded streets, as well as the beautiful Prato della Valle, the 90,000-square metre elliptical square with an island in its centre surrounded by a canal bordered by 78 statues.

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