Alberto Guglielmotti (3 February 1812 - 31 October 1893) was a

Dominican order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of ...

priest and writer. He was best recognized for his histories about the naval battles and exploits of seamen from the Italian peninsula. He was born in

Civitavecchia Civitavecchia (; meaning "ancient town") is a city and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Rome in the central Italian region of Lazio. A sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it is located west-north-west of Rome. The harbour is formed by two pier ...

, baptized ''al secolo'' as Francesco Maria Guglielmotti. he father was an officer of the Marine, who served as councillor in

Ragusa, Sicily Ragusa (; scn, Rausa ; la, Ragusia) is a city and ''comune'' in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Ragusa, on the island of Sicily, with 73,288 inhabitants in 2016. It is built on a wide limestone hill between two deep valley ...

and Civitavecchia. After attending seminary in Rome, he served as professor of physics and mathematics at the Minerva school. He later became librarian of the

Biblioteca Casanatense The Biblioteca Casanatense is a large historic library in Rome, Italy, named in honour of Cardinal Girolamo Casanate (1620–1700) whose private library is at its roots. History The library was established in 1701 by Antonin Cloche, the Mast ...

. He soon dedicated himself to writing mainly about naval history. Including ''I Bastioni d' Antonio di Sangallo per fortificare Civitavecchia'' (1860). His first major book was ''

Marcantonio Colonna Marcantonio II Colonna (sometimes spelled Marc'Antonio; 1535 – August 1, 1584), Duke of Tagliacozzo and Duke and Prince of Paliano, was a Roman aristocrat who served as a Viceroy of Sicily in the service of the Spanish Crown, Spanish gener ...

alla Battaglia di Lepanto'' (1862). Ten years later, he published ''Storia della Marina Pontificia nel medievo''; by 1893, this had expanded to the history to ten volumes chronicling from ''dal principio a noi''. He published ''La guerra dei pirati e la Marina pontificia del 1500-1560'' (1876) which detailed the predations by Barbary pirates and the response of the Papal navies. A monument in his honor was erected in Civitavecchia and two submarines of the Italian navy was named after him. He served as a correspondent of the Accademia della Crusca and the Lincei. Elenco dei corrispondenti dell'Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei

References

1812 births 1893 deaths 19th-century Italian historians 19th-century Italian writers {{Italy-bio-stub