Martino Anzi Explained

Martino Anzi
Birth Date:31 January 1812
Thesis1 Url:and
Thesis2 Url:)-->
Author Abbrev Bot:Anzi
Partners:)-->

Martino Anzi (31 January 1812 – 19 April 1883) was an Italian priest, ethnologist, historian and botanist. He is particularly noted for his floristic studies of Italian lichens.

Career

Martino Anzi was born in Bormio to Cristoforo and Domenica De Gasperi. In 1835 began his theological studies in Bergamo and was ordained as a priest.[1] He spent most of his life in Como, Italy, first as the bishop's chancellor and then as professor of theology, ecclesiastical history, religious apologetics and natural history at the seminary of Como. some of his sermons and lecture notes still exist. He knew several languages, including Latin, Hebrew, French, English and German. He wrote an ecclesiastical history from the founding of the Church to the Council of Trent. During the Italian revolts of 1848 he was part of the local security committee, and organized the defense of the Stelvio Pass at the border between Switzerland and modern Italy during the first war of independence.[2]

Anzi's most significant activity was as a naturalist, especially lichens, mosses, liverworts, freshwater algae, and fungi. He worked in the Valtellina and Como areas. He became aware of the botanical richness of Valtellina and wrote a guide to it that was published in 1885. His study of lichens increased the number of species known in the region from 37 in 1834 to around 541 in 1860.[3] Anzi edited eight exsiccatae, among others the series Lichenes rariores Langobardi exsiccati (1861-1873).[4] He also wrote about vascular plants in 1878–1881, providing new information on identifications and species distributions that added to knowledge of the Italian flora. In addition, he recorded many herbal and folk remedies, with specific detail on plants, although he did not provide any medical treatments himself.[5]

Honours

In 1861 Anzi was made a Knight of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus in recognition of his botanical work. He was a member of the precursor of the modern Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

Legacy

During his studies, Anzi was the first to describe many hundreds of species of lichen, many of which are still considered valid. The main location of the specimens that he collected and preserved is the herbarium of the Botanical Institute of the University of Turin,[6] but many thousands of his specimens are in other European herbaria. Anzi included specimens collected by Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo in his collection.[7]

Publications

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ericini . Stefano . Ericini . Silvia . Brevi note di botanica medicinale di Martino Anzi . Bollettino Storico Alta Valtellina . CENTRO STUDI STORICI ALTA VALTELLINA . 10 December 2022.
  2. Book: Innocenzo . Regazzoni . l professore Martino Anzi: cenni biografici. . 1884 . Tipografia provinciale editrice Ostinelli di C. A . Como.
  3. Book: Anzi . Martino . Catalogus lichenum quos in provincia Sondriensi et circa Novum Comum collegit et in ordinem systematicum digessit presbyter Martinus Anzi. . 1860 . Novi-Comi: ex officina Caroli Franchi bibliopolae . 126.
  4. Triebel, D. & Scholz, P. 2001–2024 IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae. – Botanische Staatssammlung München: http://indexs.botanischestaatssammlung.de. – München, Germany.
  5. Web site: Piuselli . Rosanna . L'uso dei semplici: superstizione popolare? . Bollettino Storico Alta Valtellina . CENTRO STUDI STORICI ALTA VALTELLINA . 10 December 2022.
  6. Isocrono . Deborah . Guglielmone . Laura . Pandolfo . Guglielmo . Non vascular cryptogamic collections fromHerbarium Universitatis Taurinensis (TO):making the most to promote their utilization . Museologia Scientifica Memorie . 2015 . 17/2017 . 135–139.
  7. Web site: Anzi, Martino (1812-1883) . Global Plants . JSTOR.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Martino Anzi".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.