Domenico Viviani (29 July 1772,

Levanto, Liguria Levanto (; or , locally ) is a (municipality) in the province of La Spezia, in the Italy, Italian region of Liguria, located almost southeast of Genoa and about northwest of La Spezia. The town is on the coast at the mouth of a river val ...

– 15 February 1840,

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

) was an Italian

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

. In 1803, he was named professor of

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

at the

University of Genoa The University of Genoa () is a public research university. It is one of the largest universities in Italy and it is located in the city of Genoa, on the Italian Riviera in the Liguria region of northwestern Italy. The original university was fou ...

, where he is credited with the founding of its

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

. He is known for his

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

studies (botany,

mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

) of the Ligurian region as well as botanical investigations of flora native to other areas of the Italian mainland,

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

,The discovery of the Sardinian Flora (XVIII-XIX Centuries)
by Pier Virgilio Arrigoni and

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

. In 1804,

Antonio José Cavanilles Antonio José Cavanilles (16 January 1745 – 5 May 1804) was a leading Spanish taxonomic botanist, artist and one of the most important figures in the 18th century period of Enlightenment in Spain. Cavanilles is most famous for his 2-vol ...

named the botanical genus '' Viviania'' (of family Vivianiaceae, from southern South America) in his honor. He bequeathed his library of 2000 volumes from the 16th to the 19th century to King

Charles Albert of Sardinia Charles Albert (; 2 October 1798 – 28 July 1849) was the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), King of Sardinia and ruler of the Savoyard state from 27 April 1831 until his abdication in 1849. His name is bound up with the first Italian constit ...

, who in turn donated the books to the University of Genoa library. His

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

in Genoa was destroyed due to the ravages of war, however, some of his specimens can be located in other herbaria.

Published works

* "Annales Botanici", 1804. * ''Memoria sopra una nuova specie di minerale scoperta in Liguria'' - Treatise on a new mineral discovered in Liguria. * ''Catalogue des poissons de la rivière de Gênes et du Golfe de la Spezzia'', 1806 - Catalogue of the fishes of the coasts of the Gulf of Genoa and

La Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguria ...

. * ''Voyage dans les Apennins de la ci-devant Ligurie pour servir d'introduction à l'Histoire Naturelle de ce pays'', 1807 - Travel in the

Apennines The Apennines or Apennine Mountains ( ; or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; or – a singular with plural meaning; )Latin ''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which would be segmented ''Apenn-inus'', often used with nouns s ...

of Liguria to serve as an introduction to the natural history of this region. * "Florae Italicae fragmenta, seu Plantae rariores, vel nondum cognitae, in variis Italiae regionibus detectae, descriptionibus, et figuris llustratae", 1808. * "Florae Libycae specimen: sive, plantarum enumeratio Cyrenaicam, Pentapolim, Magnae Syrteos Desertum Et Regionem Tripolitanam Incolentium...", 1824. * "Flore Corsicae specierum novarum vel minus cognitarum diagnosis quam in Florae Italicae fragmentis alternis Prodromum exhibet", 1825. * ''I funghi d'Italia'', 1834 - A treatise on Italian

mycology Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, genetics, biochemistry, biochemical properties, and ethnomycology, use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, Edible ...

.Biodiversity Heritage Library
publications

References

* Parts of this article are based on translated text from equivalent articles at the French and Italian Wikipedia. 1772 births 1840 deaths Scientists from the Kingdom of Sardinia People from the Republic of Genoa 19th-century Italian botanists Italian naturalists Academic staff of the University of Genoa 18th-century Italian botanists People from Levanto, Liguria {{Italy-botanist-stub