Martino Anzi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | January 31, 1812 |
| Died | April 19, 1883 (aged 71) |
| Scientific career | |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | Anzi |
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.
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.[1] 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.[1][3] 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.[1][4]
In 1861 Anzi was made a Knight of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus in recognition of his botanical work.[1] He was a member of the precursor of the modern Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
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,[5] but many thousands of his specimens are in other European herbaria. Anzi included specimens collected by Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo in his collection.[6]
