Joseph Allegranza ( it, Giuseppe; 16 October 1715 in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Duchy of Milan The Duchy of Milan ( it, Ducato di Milano; lmo, Ducaa de Milan) was a state in northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti family, which had been ruling the city sin ...

– 18 December 1785 in Milan),

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sometimes Rosario Maria Eulabio, was a Dominican historian, archaeologist and antiquary known for cataloguing the collection of Count Carlo Pertusati, now the

Biblioteca di Brera The or Braidense National Library, usually known as the Biblioteca di Brera, is a public library in Milan, in northern Italy. It is one of the largest libraries in Italy. Initially it contained large historical and scientific collections before ...

. Allegranza belonged to the monastery at the

Basilica of Sant'Eustorgio The Basilica of Sant'Eustorgio is a church in Milan in northern Italy, which is in the Basilicas Park city park. It was for many years an important stop for pilgrims on their journey to Rome or to the Holy Land, because it was said to contain the ...

and taught theology at

Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It is ...

and

Vercelli Vercelli (; pms, Vërsèj ), is a city and ''comune'' of 46,552 inhabitants (January 1, 2017) in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, ...

in 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 ...

before earning his doctorate in theology in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 1746. He then travelled across

Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

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and southern

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, and reached

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

by 1750. There, he and Constantino Grimaldi considered a

Pansophic Pansophism, in older usage often pansophy, is a concept in the educational system of universal knowledge proposed by John Amos Comenius, a Czech educator. " omenius'ssecond great interest was in furthering the Francis Bacon, Baconian attempt at t ...

library to "administer the most certain and adequate idea of the character, genius, rites and customs of the ancient Nations". He then visited

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

and

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, where he wrote the ''

Philological Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as the ...

Letters'' (''Lettere filologiche sopra il Regno di Sicilia e sopra Malta)'' and then to

Chieti Chieti (, ; , nap, label= Abruzzese, Chjïétë, ; gr, Θεάτη, Theátē; lat, Theate, ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Central Italy, east by northeast of Rome. It is the capital of the province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region. ...

, where he taught at the seminary for two years, and Rome for some months between 1754-1755, and relocated permanently to Milan in 1755. In 1770, the

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sovereign

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position ''suo jure'' (in her own right). ...

, who controlled Milan as part of the

Archduchy of Austria The Archduchy of Austria (german: Erzherzogtum Österreich) was a major Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, principality of the Holy Roman Empire and the nucleus of the Habsburg monarchy. With its capital at Vienna, the archduchy was centered at th ...

, assigned the literary collection, earlier donated by the State Congregation of

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

to her son Archduke Ferdinand Karl, for public use. Likely after this dedication, Allegranza was tasked with cataloguing the collection, for which he received a medal from the Empress; the library would open to the public in 1786. In 1773 his most famous work ''De sepulcris christianis in aedibus sacris: accedunt inscriptiones sepulcrales christianae saeculo septimo antiquiores in Insubria Austriaca repertae'' was published, ably depicting early tombstones and epitaphs from across Italy.

Selected works

*''Spiegazioni e riflessioni sopra alcuni sacri monumenti antichi di Milano'' (Milan, 1757) *''De sepulcris christianis in aedibus sacris. — Accedunt inscriptiones sepulcrales christianae saeculo septimo antiquiores in Insubria Austriaca repertae: item Inscriptiones sepulcrales ecclesiarum atque aedium PP. Ord. Praed. Mediolani'' (Milan, 1773) *''De Monogrammate D. N. Jesu Christi et usitatis ejus effingendi modis'' (Milan, 1773) *''Opuscoli eruditi latini ed italiani'' (

Cremona Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' ( Po Valley). It is the capital of th ...

, 1781) *''Osservazioni antiquarie critiche e fisiche fatte nel regno di Sicilia'' (Milan, 1781)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allegranza, Joseph 1715 births 1785 deaths Italian Dominicans Writers from Milan Archaeologists from Milan