Alberto Ferrero La Marmora (or Della Marmora; 7 April 1789 – 18 March 1863) was an Italian

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

and naturalist. He was elder brother to

Alessandro Ferrero La Marmora Alessandro Ferrero La Marmora (27 March 1799 – 7 June 1855) was an Italian general who is best remembered for founding the military unit known as the Bersaglieri. Two of his brothers were Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora and Alberto Ferrero la Ma ...

, soldier and founder of the

Bersaglieri The Bersaglieri, singular Bersagliere, (, "sharpshooter") are a troop of marksmen in the Italian Army's infantry corps. They were originally created by General Alessandro La Marmora on 18 June 1836 to serve in the Royal Sardinian Army, whi ...

, and to Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora, Italian general and statesman. Born in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

but educated at the Ecole Militaire de Fontainebleau, graduating in 1807, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant of infantry in the French Army. He was the second of four brothers, all of whom had distinguished military careers. He served under MacDonald in Calabria and in 1809 he joined the army of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, participating in the campaign in Venetia. He fought at the Battle of Bautzen at the age of 24 and following the defeat of the combined Russian and Prussian forces in that engagement he was personally decorated with the

Legion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

. After Napoleon's abdication Marmora gave his allegiance to the House of Savoy, the ruling house of the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia,The name of the state was originally Latin: , or when the kingdom was still considered to include Corsica. In Italian it is , in French , in Sardinian , and in Piedmontese . also referred to as the Kingdom of Savoy-S ...

. Marmora was posted to

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

, from where he sent the first specimens of the warbler that bears his name, '' Sylvia sarda'' or Marmora's warbler, to Turin, where his description was read out at the Turin Academy on 28 August 1819. He was forced to resign his commission during the insurrection of 1820–21, due to his sympathy with the rebels. Three years later, he was recalled to active service, mainly on Sardinia. Despite his liberal sympathies, he rose to the rank of General and in 1840 he was given command of the Royal School of Marines. In 1845 in collaboration with the knight and major

Carlo de Candia Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to: *Carlo (name) *Monte Carlo *Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...

, he created the large maritime map of Sardinia in 1: 250,000 scale, travel version.Kingdom of Sardinia 1845 Maritime Map by La Marmora & de Candia, Sardegna Cultura, Italia 2000, http://www.sardegnacultura.it/j/v/258?s=24462&v=2&c=2813&t=1 He became Governor-General of Sardinia in 1849, eventually retiring to Turin where he died age 73 on 18 March 1863. He wrote ''Viaggio in Sardegna'' (Travels in Sardinia) in 1860, which extended the study of the island previously made by Francesco Cetti. Many of the animals collected by La Marmora were sent to

Franco Andrea Bonelli Franco Andrea Bonelli (10 November 1784 – 18 November 1830) was an Italian ornithologist, entomologist and collector. Life Very little is known about the early life of Bonelli: he was born in Cuneo and was interested from an early age in the ...

at Turin University, and he also corresponded with Bonelli's successor,

Giuseppe Gené Carlo Giuseppe Gené (7 December 1800 – 14 July 1847) was an Italian naturalist and author. Gené was born at Turbigo in Lombardy and studied at the University of Pavia. He published a number of papers on natural history, particularly ent ...

. The highest point of Sardinia is Punta La Marmora, commemorating the physical and geological surveys of the island Marmora conducted

References

Senato della Repubblica profile
(in Italian) *Mearns, Barbara & Richard (1988), Biographies for Birdwatchers. The Lives of Those Commemorated in Western Palearctic Bird Names. With a Foreword by Sir Peter Scott. Academic Press

External links

Sardegna Digital Library
digitised ''Viaggio in Sardegna'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Marmora, Alberto della 1789 births 1863 deaths Military personnel from Turin Italian generals Italian naturalists Italian military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Scientists from Turin