La Società Entomologica Italiana, the Italian Entomological Society, is Italy’s foremost society devoted to the study of

insects Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...

. The society is famous for promoting applied entomology and many of its past members have saved millions from deadly diseases such as

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

History

The society was founded on 31 October 1869, near the "Regio Museo di Storia Naturale", the Royal Natural History Museum (effectively "Museo zoologico de La Specola") in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

. The Society had been promoted almost two years before by a group of Italian and other scientists from various institutions across Italy. On 1 January 1868, 21 members of a committee called "Comitato dei Promotori della Società Entomologica Italiana" signed a "manifesto" letter. Coordinated by Alexander Enrico Haliday were four Academic Associates.

Emilio Cornalia Emilio Cornalia (25 August 1824 – 8 June 1882) was an Italian naturalist. Treccani. He was born in Milan and died in the same city. He was conservator from 1851 to 1866, and director from 1866 till his death, of the Milan Museum of Natural H ...

, then director of del Museo civico di Storia naturale di

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 ...

o, the author of works of applied entomology, such as "La Monografia del bombice del gelso" published in 1856; Giovanni Passerini, university professor of Botany at the Università di

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

;

Paolo Savi Paolo Savi (11 July 1798 – 5 April 1871) was an Italian geologist and ornithologist. Biography Savi was born in Pisa, the son of Gaetano Savi, professor of botany at the University of Pisa. The younger Savi became assistant lecturer in zoolo ...

, director of the "Museo zoologico dell'Università di

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

", and author of "Ornitologia Toscana", Tuscany Birds (1827–1831), who had also promoted the first congress of Italian scientists, Primo Congresso degli Scienziati Italiani at Pisa in 1839 an author of notes on breeding ''

Samia cynthia ''Samia cynthia'', the ailanthus silkmoth, is a saturniid moth, used to produce silk fabric but not as domesticated as the silkworm, ''Bombyx mori''. The moth has very large wings of , with a quarter-moon shaped spot on both the upper and lower ...

'', an alternative silk producer of optimal quality "shantung" and

Achille Costa Achille Costa (10 August 1823, Lecce – 17 November 1899 Rome) was an Italian zoologist working mainly in entomology who was appointed director of the Zoological Museum of Naples. He founded the entomological collections in Naples and describe ...

, holder of the first chair of Entomology and director of Museo zoologico dell'Università di Napoli.

Adolfo Targioni Tozzetti Adolfo Targioni Tozzetti (13 February 1823 in Florence – 18 September 1902) was an Italian entomologist who specialised in Sternorrhyncha. He was Professor of Botany and Zoology in Florence, associated with Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze wh ...

and

Pietro Stefanelli Pietro Stefanelli (30 July 1835, Florence – 23 December 1919, Florence) was an Italian Professor of Entomology. mainly interested in Lepidoptera and Odonata.He was a founding member of the Italian Entomological Society. He was also instrumenta ...

are also listed as one of the Comitato.

Fernandino Maria Piccioli Ferdinando Maria Piccioli (26 July 1821 – 14 February 1900) was an Italian entomologist. He specialised in Hymenoptera and Coleoptera. Born at San Felice, Piccioli was an “Assistant” at the Stazione di Entomologia Agraria in Florence. H ...

was an editor. The founding of the society was a part of 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 ...

. In 1922 it moved to

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 ...

, to

Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova The Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Giacomo Doria is a natural history museum in Genoa, northern Italy. It is named after the naturalist Giacomo Doria, who was the founder and the curator for over forty years. The museum was founded in 1867 and c ...

, where it is based until now. La Società Entomologica Italiana collaborates with

Unione Zoologica Italiana Unione Zoologica Italiana is an Italian scientific society devoted to Zoology especially that of Italy. The Society was founded in 1900. Publications include (from 2006) ''The Italian Journal of Zoology'' previously (from 1930), published under th ...

, the Italian Zoological Society in maintaining a website listing the Italian Faun
FaunaItalia

Notable members

Raffaello Gestro Raffaello Gestro (21 March 1845, Genoa – 6 June 1936, Genoa) was an Italian entomologist who specialised in Coleoptera. Gestro was the Director of the Natural History Museum of Giacomo Doria Genoa where his collection is conserved. He was a Membe ...

Giovanni Battista Grassi Giovanni Battista Grassi (27 March 1854 – 4 May 1925) was an Italian physician and zoologist, best known for his pioneering works on parasitology, especially on malariology. He was Professor of Comparative Zoology at the University of Catani ...

Alexander Henry Haliday Alexander Henry Haliday (1806–1870, also known as Enrico Alessandro Haliday, Alexis Heinrich Haliday, or simply Haliday) was an Irish entomologist. He is primarily known for his work on Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Thysanoptera, but worked on ...

* Leonello Picco *

Camillo Rondani Camillo Rondani (21 November 1808 – 17 September 1879) was an Italian entomologist noted for his studies of Diptera. Early life, family and education Camillo Rondani was born in Parma when the city was part of the French Empire Napoleon ...

Ruggero Verity Ruggero Verity or Roger Verity (20 May 1883 – 4 March 1959) was an Anglo-Italian entomologist who specialised in butterflies and a physician. Life Roger Verity was born in Florence on 20 May 1883, the elder son of Richard Henry Manners Verity ...

References

*Cesare Conci et Roberto Poggi (1996), Iconography of Italian Entomologists, with essential biographical data.''Memorie della Società entomologica Italiana'', 75 : 159-382.

External links

''Italian Entomological Society official website''
BHL
Parts of ''Bollettino della Società Entomologica Italiana'' {{DEFAULTSORT:La Societa Entomologica Italiana Entomological societies Biology societies Learned societies of Italy