Many elements serve to illustrate the social and cultural context in which Giovanni Marsili moved and worked: letters sent by him and addressed to him, prefaces and dedications of his books, and also the notes that he himself made on many of his volumes, noting the names of the donors from whom he had received them. Among them were several friends and colleagues whom he met at different times in his personal and professional life.
As we read in this celebrative inscription, the library of Giovanni Marsili represents the original nucleus on which Antonio Bonato, his successor to the post of Prefect, will constitute the Library of the Botanical Garden.
Title page of Saggio di poesie italiane dell'abate Vincenzio Cammillo Alberti, 1773, with note of possession from the hand of Vicenzo Camillo Alberti (Biblioteca Universitaria, BOT.3.32) Born in Bologna, son of Domenico Felice and Gaetana Fabbri, he received his initial education at the Archiepiscopal Seminary, which continued in the literary field under the guidance of Fernando Antonio Ghedini to which was added the study of law. An accident in 1769 forced him to take to his bed where he spent the last years of his life writing the biographies of maestro Ghedini, Francesco Algarotti, cardinal Antonio Andrea Galli and a collection of verses; he died of further complications at the age of 24. Among his correspondents, Giovanni Marsili and Pietro Metastasio,, who writing to one of his correspondents – Giuseppe Azzoni of Siena- on October 31, 1771, says: "This Mr. Alberti is an individual whom I do not know except through letters, of which I have interrupted the exchange, because it is tiring and useless ..." (cf. P. Metastasio, Lettere, 2, Milano 1954, p. 615)
GIUSEPPE BARTOLI (1717–1789)
Marsili's handwritten note on the anterior endpaper of La quarta egloga di Virgilio spiegata da Giuseppe Bartoli (Biblioteca Universitaria, BOT.1.36) A prolific writer of occasional poetry, an expert in classics and a lover of antiques, in 1745 he obtained the chair of eloquence and belles-lettres in Turin (not without controversy) and became "royal antiquarian" for Carlo Emanuele III. He gave Marsili, of whom he was a fellow-citizen, his translation of the Fourth Eclogue of Virgil, the one celebrating the coming of the puer (child) and the return of the golden age, which Bartoli interprets as the restoration of the ancient Roman republic. At the exhibition held at Palazzo Cavalli in 2018 there was another volume by Virgil containing the complete work. The note that recalls the gift is by the hand of Marsili.
ANTONIO BONATO (1753–1836)
Portrait of Antonio Bonato, first half of the 19th century. (from the Iconoteca dei botanici collection in Phaidra) Insert in Venerum Blyenburgicarum sive Horti amoris areola tertia ad seipsum... with note by Bonato (Biblioteca Universitaria, BOT.5.178) Graduated in medicine and a librarian first at the University Library then at the Botanical Garden, in 1894 he was appointed to succeed his teacher and mentor Giovanni Marsili, thus carrying out his work as a professor and Prefect of the Garden until 1834 when he qualified for retirement.
In the volume Venerum Blyenburgicarum sive Horti amoris areola tertia ad seipsum (...) Dordraci Ex officina Isaaci Canini, 1600, a manuscript fragment of his own has been preserved with different bio-bibliographic notations of the author of the work. The volume is the first edition of one of the most important 17th century anthologies of erotic Neolatine poetry divided into five areole (flowerbeds), which contain, in more than 900 pages, 1137 "amorous" poems by 148 poets, from Alciati to Bonnefons, from Erasmus to Marullo, Poliziano, Sannazaro and others.
MELCHIORRE CESAROTTI (1730–1808)
Portrait from Epistolario Scelto di Melchiorre Cesarotti padovano (Chosen Epistolary of the Padovan Melchior Cesarotti), 1826 (Biblioteca Universitaria, B.52.b.183)Handwritten note by Marsili on the front guard of Venerum Blyenburgicarum sive Horti amoris areola tertia ad seipsum... (Biblioteca Universitaria, BOT.7.21.1) Handwritten note by Marsili on the front guard of "Prometeo legato" (Prometheus bound) di Eschilo was given to him by Melchiorre Cesarotti, of a noble Padovan family, who taught Greek and Hebrew from 1768 to 1797 and then belle-lettres at the University of Padova; owner of a villa in Selvazzano, friend of Madame de Stael and Ugo Foscolo, translator also of Homer, Demosthenes and Voltaire, he became famous, however, for the translation of the Songs of Ossian by James McPherson; this version of Prometheus was produced at the request of Count Paolo Brazolo Milizia, another famous protagonist of the cultural life of Padova in the mid-eighteenth century.
ANTONIO COCCHI (1695–1758)
Portrait of Antonio Cocchi (from the Iconoteca dei botanici collection in Phaidra) A doctor in Florence, he was a teacher and friend of Marsili and his personal life seems to influence Marsili's choices.
After graduating in medicine in 1716 in Pisa he joined the Order of Doctors of Florence where he taught at the University from 1731 and was health director of the hospital of Santa Maria nuova from 1742. His training and his commitment have a practical, rationalist and enlightened character. He works and writes with interest on the themes of diet and hygiene with texts on Pythagorean fare, on the use of water among the ancients and on the baths of Pisa.
One of his characteristics is the linguistic interest that leads him to the knowledge of ancient and modern languages and to the philological and palaeographic study of ancient sources of medicine. He becomes a member of the Accademia della Crusca. From 1715 he writes a polyglot diary, the Effemeridi (Ephemeris), which meticulously reports the events of his entire life.
He works with the English Tuscan community and from 1723 to 1726 he moves to London where he studies, works and participates in cultural life. This stay will give further weight to his cosmopolitanism and also to his materialism and secularism, also causing him some problems and attracting criticism. From 1732 he is a member of the English Masonic Lodge of Florence. From 1729 he is a member of the Florentine Botanical Society and collects a herbarium and a naturalistic museum. From 1738 he is appointed ducal antiquarian and is responsible for the preparation and opening of the Magliabechiana Library.
At the end of his life he owns a library of about 16,000 volumes containing Galilean manuscripts and a library collection that belonged to Vincenzo Viviani, Galileo's assistant. In the Marsili collection there were many texts by Cocchi, on medical and historical subjects and the curious Del matrimonio… and Lettera ad una sposa tradotta dall'inglese da una fanciulla mugellana (Letter to a Bride).
ALBERTO FORTIS (1741–1803)
Alberto Fortis in a photographic reproduction of an engraving made by Comirato, ca. 1885–1900 (from the Iconoteca dei botanici collection in Phaidra)Title page with gift note by Marsili (Biblioteca Universitaria, BOT.6.109)
Front end paper with A. Fortis' note of possession Alberto Fortis was baptized by Antonio Vallisneri, who then followed him in his personal and intellectual development together with Melchiorre Cesarotti. A scholar of geology, he was able to take part in several trips to Dalmatia funded by English patrons and the Venetian Senate, trying in vain to succeed his godfather in the chair of Natural History in Padova.
The volume (BOT.6.109) bears his handwritten possession note in the front endpaper, but it had already belonged to a very dear friend of his, Franz Dembscher, who had donated it to him, as the handwritten note at the foot of the title page says: ex dono cl. et amicissimi viri Francisci à Dembscher Geom.(etriae) subterr.(aneae) Professoris.
ANTON FRANCESCO GORI (1691–1757)
Engraving by Johann Jakob Haid from Pinacotheca Scriptorum Nostra Aetate Literis Illustrium... by Johann Jakob Brucker, 1766 (from Wikimedia Commons)Detail of the front endpaper with a handwritten gift note from Marsili (Biblioteca Universitaria, BOT.1.149) Florentine and priest, professor of sacred and secular history, famous scholar, tireless writer and researcher of antiquities, he came into contact with Marsili probably during the Tuscan period, between 1752 and 1756.
The work was donated to Marsili, who lived in Florence, by its author himself, as evidenced by the handwritten note on the endpaper: Donum Antonij Francisci Gori | Florentiae die 6 Augusti 1752.
SEBASTIANO MARSILI (1739–1783)
Note of possession of Sebastiano Marsili (Biblioteca Universitaria) One of Giovanni's three brothers (along with Giorgio and his sister Santina), a lawyer, had a house in the parish of S. Maria Formosa and became husband in 1758 to Caterina Capretta (1738-?), the protagonist in her youth of a burning affair with Giacomo Casanova. The volume with the works of Virgil on display at the exhibition held at Palazzo Cavalli in 2018 belonged to him.
PHILIP MILLER (1691–1771)
Portrait of Philip Miller. Photograph mounted on cardboard (from the Iconoteca dei botanici collection in Phaidra)
Educated in horticulture by his father, a small agricultural producer in Deptford, he became chief gardener and curator (or "Hortolanus") of the Physic Garden in Chelsea from 1721 until his death. The care of the plants and the introduction of new species will always be at the centre of his interest, as well as the relationship with other botanists with whom he exchanges information, seeds and herbarium samples. In 1736 he was visited by Linnaeus, but Miller only adopted his classification system in 1768, preferring for a long time that of Tournefort and Ray. The first edition of his Gardeners dictionary containing the methods of cultivating dates back to 1724 and will have great success and numerous editions in several languages. Marsili kept five of Miller's works, including two editions of the Gardeners dictionary and a copy of a catalogue of plants for sale in a nursery near London dedicated to him by Miller. The botanist was a fellow of the Royal Society in 1730 and was among those who presents Marsili for the same position in 1758.
GIROLAMO FRANCESCO ZANETTI (1713–1782)
Manuscript dedication by Zanetti (Biblioteca Universitaria)Venetian, son of Alessandro and Antonia Limonti; archaeologist, scholar and philologist, cousin of Antonio Maria, who was an artist and woodcarver (1668–1766), and brother of Antonio Maria scholar and librarian of Marciana Library (1716–1778), from whom he learned Greek and from whose position he tried in vain to inherit, since he was defeated by Abate Morelli. He was a friend of Gasparo Gozzi and Angelo Calogerà with whom he published his Memorie per servire all'Istoria letteraria; he was also the promoter of various journalistic enterprises and a pensionary of the Accademia di Padova from 1779, the city where he died. On the endpaper of a book dedicated by Liceti to ancient oil lamps appears his handwritten dedication of the gift made in 1763: Joh. Marsillio suo | dono dabat | Hier. Franc. Zanettius | MDCCLXIII
