Giorgio Celli (16 July 1935 – 11 June 2011) was an Italian entomologist, ecologist, professor, writer, and politician.

Early life

Celli was born in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

. After receiving his degree in agronomical sciences in 1959, Celli taught at the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continu ...

. His research focused on pesticides in the context of bees and

agroecosystem Agroecosystems are the ecosystems supporting the food production systems in our farms and gardens. As the name implies, at the core of an agroecosystem lies the human activity of agriculture. As such they are the basic unit of study in Agroecology ...

Writing and acting

Celli wrote novels, plays, and poetry. In 1975 he won the Pirandello Prize for his play ''Le tentazioni del professor Faust''. His works were performed at Festival dei Due Mondi in

Spoleto Spoleto (, also , , ; la, Spoletum) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome. History Spolet ...

. As an actor, Celli appeared in films such as

Pupi Avati Giuseppe Avati, better known as Pupi Avati (born 3 November 1938), is an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known to horror film fans for his two giallo masterpieces, ''The House with Laughing Windows'' (1976) and '' Zeder ...

's ''La mazurka del barone, della santa e del fico fiorone''. On television, he hosted the documentary programme ''Nel regno degli animali''.

Politics

Celli was a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

from 1999 to 2004, representing

The Greens–European Free Alliance ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

. At the same time he was a councillor for the city of Bologna, with the

Federation of the Greens The Federation of the Greens ( it, Federazione dei Verdi, FdV), frequently referred to as Greens (''Verdi''), was a green political party in Italy. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the Federation of Green Lists and the Rainbow Greens. T ...

party.

Death

On 10 May 2011 he was admitted for surgery at Policlinico Sant'Orsola-Malpighi in Bologna. He died in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

on 11 June 2011.

References

1935 births 2011 deaths Gruppo 63 {{Italy-MEP-stub