Leopoldo Pilla (20 October 1805 – 29 May 1848) was an Italian geologist, veterinarian, and physician. He contributed to studies on volcanoes. He died in the
Risorgimento
The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...
while leading a student regiment during the Battle of
Curtatone
Curtatone (Mantovano: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Mantua in the Italian region Lombardy, located about southeast of Milan and about southwest of Mantua.
The municipality of Curtatone is formed by the ''frazioni'' (subdivi ...
.
Biography
![Pilla Earth structure](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Pilla_Earth_structure.jpg)
Pilla was born in
Venafro
Venafro (Latin: ''Venafrum''; Greek: ) is a ''comune'' in the province of Isernia, region of Molise, Italy. It has a population of 11,079, having expanded quickly in the post-war period.
Geography
Situated at the foot of Mount Santa Croce, elevat ...
,
Molise
Molise (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Neapolitan, Mulise) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy. Until 1963, it formed part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise, alongside the region of Abruzzo. The split, which did not become effe ...
, to doctor and scholar Nicola and his second wife Anna Macchia. After the death of his mother in 1818, his father married a relative Nicolina Macchia. Pilla did not get along well and the father shifted him to Naples where he lived in the home of his father's friend Nicola Covelli and went to study at the private school of
Basilio Puoti before entering the
University
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
. In 1821 he joined to study veterinary medicine and qualified in 1825. He then went to study medicine and graduated in 1829. In 1831 he was sent by the
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* Bourbon biscuit, a chocolate sandwich biscuit
* A beer produced by Bras ...
government to Vienna to study cholera which was threatening Italy. He worked at a military hospital and also took an interest in geology and mineralogy having attended classes under
Matteo Tondi
Matteo is the Italian form of the given name Matthew. Another form is Mattia. The Hebrew meaning of Matteo is "gift of god". Matteo can also be used as a patronymic surname, often in the forms of de Matteo, De Matteo or DeMatteo, meaning " escenda ...
. In 1841 he was appointed honorary professor in-charge of mineralogy and geology at the University of Naples. He was given no salary and any career advance was blocked by
Teodoro Monticelli as he was considered politically unfit, being considered a liberal, his father having been a
Jacobin
, logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg
, logo_size = 180px
, logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794)
, motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir)
, successor = Pa ...
suspected to have been in the
Carbonari
The Carbonari () was an informal network of secret revolutionary societies active in Italy from about 1800 to 1831. The Italian Carbonari may have further influenced other revolutionary groups in France, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Uruguay and Ru ...
. In 1842 he became a professor of mineralogy at the
University of Pisa
The University of Pisa ( it, Università di Pisa, UniPi), officially founded in 1343, is one of the oldest universities in Europe.
History
The Origins
The University of Pisa was officially founded in 1343, although various scholars place ...
and began to correspond with French journals. In 1848 he enlisted as Captain of the Tuscan University Volunteers in the Risorgimento. He moved to Campo delle Grazie
near Curtatone where they were in charge of securing a river front. Pilla and the students were killed in the fighting, mowed down by Austrian machine gun fire at Osone bridge.
Pilla maintained notes on his life from 1830 that were later published as ''Notizie storiche della mia vita quotidiana'' ''a cominciare dal'' ''1mo gennaro 1830''. He however omitted the fact that he was in love with the daughter of the chemist Filippo Cassola, who however married his classmate
Arcangelo Scacchi
Arcangelo Scacchi (9 February 1810 – 11 October 1893) was an Italian physician, mineralogist, malacology, malacologist, and naturalist. He served as a professor of mineralogy at the University of Naples Federico II, University of Naples. Between ...
. He contemplated suicide in 1836. He acknowledged an illegitimate son Leopoldo Nocentini at the time of his death. A plaque marks his home in Venafro, as also a school named in his honour. Although he published in journals and influenced numerous students, Pilla's primary geological output was in his two volume ''Trattato di Geologia'' (1847).
References
External links
* Trattato di geologia (1847
Volume 1Volume 2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pilla, Leopoldo
1805 births
1848 deaths
Italian geologists
Academic staff of the University of Pisa
Italian veterinarians
Italian physicians
People from Molise