Giuseppe Tassini (12 November 1827 - 22 December 1899) was an Italian historian and one of the most notable scholars of the

toponymy Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

of his birthplace of

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

. His most notable work was ''Curiosità Veneziane'', a minute toponymical study first published in 1863 and universally considered the most important bibliographical source of its kind.

Life

Born into an old middle-class Venetian family, he was the son of Carlo (1781-1848), an official with the

Austro-Hungarian Navy The Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal War Navy (german: kaiserliche und königliche Kriegsmarine, in short ''k.u.k. Kriegsmarine'', hu, Császári és Királyi Haditengerészet) was the naval force of Austria-Hungary. Ships of the A ...

and his noble-born wife Elisabetta de Wasserfall. He had a bumpy childhood which only settled down after his father's death, gaining a

laurea In Italy, the ''laurea'' is the main post-secondary academic degree. The name originally referred literally to the laurel wreath, since ancient times a sign of honor and now worn by Italian students right after their official graduation ceremony ...

in law in 1860. He then mainly focussed on administering his family estates, including lands in

Scorzè Scorzè is a ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Venice, in the Italian region of Veneto, located about northwest of Venice. The country is bordered by Zero Branco, Trebaseleghe, Venezia, Noale and Salzano. The municipality of Scorzè cont ...

and several houses in Venice, and on further study. He died of an

apoplectic fit Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleed ...

in his house near the

sotoportego Sotoportego (or sottoportego) is one of the characteristic elements of urban planning in the city of Venice. It is a passageway that goes underneath a building. The sotoportego height typically equals to that of the ground floor. Oftentimes, the s ...

delle Cariole in Venice, not far from

San Zulian The Chiesa di San Giuliano (Julian the Hospitaller, St Julian), commonly called San Zulian in the Venetian dialect, is a church in Venice. San Zulian is in the parish of Chiesa di San Salvador, San Salvador. It is situated on the Merceria, the mai ...

. His body was discovered by a chamberlain of the Caffè dei Segretari who usually brought Tassini breakfast each morning - on 22 December 1899 he had not already opened his door and the chamberlain called a blacksmith to force it open. He was buried in a common grave and the location of his remains is now unknown. His manuscript books, houses and lands passed to a cousin who had emigrated to America, who then sold them off, with most of Tassini's notes bought by the

Correr Museum The Museo Correr () is a museum in Venice, northern Italy. Located in St. Mark's Square, Venice, it is one of the 11 civic museums run by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia. The museum extends along the southside of the square on the upper ...

. Giuseppe Tassini, ''Curiosità Veneziane'', note integrative e revisione a cura di Marina Crivellari Bizio, Franco Filippi, Andrea Perego, Venezia, Filippi Editore, 2009

863 __NOTOC__ Year 863 ( DCCCLXIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * September 3 – Battle of Lalakaon: A Byzantine army confronts ...

pp. 5-32.

Works (in date order)

*''La barba'' *''Gli occhiali'' *''Curiosità Veneziane - Ovvero: Origini delle denominazioni stradali di Venezia'' *''Il libertinaggio a Venezia'' *''Veronica Franco celebre letterata e cortigiana veneziana'' *''Feste, spettacoli, divertimenti e piaceri degli antichi veneziani'' *''Alcuni palazzi ed antichi edifizii di Venezia storicamente illustrati'' *''Edifici di Venezia distrutti o volti ad altro uso diverso da quello a cui furono in origine destinati'' *''Osservazioni critiche sopra le innovazioni praticate nella nomenclatura stradale di Venezia'' *''Alcune delle più clamorose condanne capitali eseguite in Venezia sotto la Repubblica'' *''Il veridico - Diario storico veneziano'' *''Le iscrizioni nella chiesa e convento di San Salvatore in Venezia'' *''Aneddoti storici veneziani'' *''Notizie storiche e genealogiche sui cittadini veneziani'' (unfinished) Some of his works are in a ''Miscellanea'' published by Editrice Filippi.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tassini, Giuseppe category:19th-century Italian historians category:People from Venice category:History of Venice category:1827 births category:1899 deaths category:Toponymists Deaths from bleeding