Giacomo Filippo Durazzo III (1719–1812) was the head of the wealthiest 18th-century family in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, and a notable naturalist and bibliophile. He was instrumental in organizing the natural history collections in the

University of Genoa The University of Genoa, known also with the acronym UniGe ( it, Università di Genova), is one of the largest universities in Italy. It is located in the city of Genoa and regional Metropolitan City of Genoa, on the Italian Riviera in the Liguri ...

and the city's Civic Museum of Natural History. Durazzo was the son of

Marcello Durazzo Marcello is a common masculine Italian given name. It is a variant of Marcellus. The Spanish and Portuguese version of the name is Marcelo, differing in having only one "l", while the Greek form is Markellos. Etymology The name originally means ...

(1703–1787) and Clelia Durazzo (1709–1782). His descendants include

Clelia Durazzo Grimaldi Clelia Durazzo Grimaldi (1760–1830), also known as Clelia Durazzo, was a botanist and marchesa in Genoa, Italy. Biography She was the daughter of Giacomo Filippo Durazzo and Maddalena Pallavicini. Her father was a member of one of the most ...

and Ignazio Alessandro Pallavicini, both naturalists in their own right. Over the course of 30 years, Durazzo collected more than 4,000 books, as well as many specimens of minerals, fossils, shells, physical and electrical devices, etc. In the 1780s Durazzo established a natural history cabinet and a laboratory in his private villa of Cornigliano. Its collection was documented by English botanist

James Edward Smith James Edward Smith may refer to: * James Edward Smith (botanist), English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society * James Edward Smith (murderer), American murderer * James Edward Smith (politician), Canadian businessman and mayor of Toronto * ...

in 1787, but after Durazzo's death, it was not preserved.

References

* A. Valenti Durazzo, ''I Durazzo da schiavi a dogi della Repubblica di Genova'', 2004. *A.Valenti Durazzo "Il Fratello del Doge. Giacomo Durazzo un illuminista alla Corte degli Asburgo tra Mozart, Casanova e Gluck", 2012. * O Raggio, ''Collecting nature in Genoa, 1780 - 1870. From aristocratic patronage to civic patrimony'', Oxford Journal of the History of Collections, 10(1):41-59, 1998. * O. Raggio,''Storia di una passione. Cultura aristocratica e collezionismo alla fine dell'ancien régime'', Marsilio, 2000.

External links

History of the Durazzos

Oxford Journal of the History of Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durazzo, Giacomo Filippo 1719 births 1812 deaths Italian naturalists 18th-century Italian people 19th-century Italian people Scientists from Genoa