The Marchese Cesare Lucchesini (2 July 1756 – 16 May 1832) was an Italian statesman and

philologist 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 strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

Biography

Cesare Lucchesini was born in

Lucca Città di Lucca ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its Province of Lucca, province has a population of 383,9 ...

, the youngest of three brothers. His older brother

Girolamo Girolamo may refer to: * Girolamo (given name) * Girolamo (surname) See also * San Girolamo (disambiguation) San Girolamo may refer to: * San Girolamo, Italian for Saint Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of S ...

served as a diplomat for the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

. In 1764 he enrolled in the Collegio of San Carlo, also called the Collegio dei Nobili of

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

, where he family had moved to work for the ducal court. In

, one of his teachers was

Lazzaro Spallanzani Lazzaro Spallanzani (; 12 January 1729 – 11 February 1799) was an Italian Catholic priest (for which he was nicknamed Abbé Spallanzani), biologist and physiologist who made important contributions to the experimental study of bodily function ...

. He completed his education at the Collegio Nazareno of

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. Returning to Lucca in 1776, he fostered an interest in

Greek literature Greek literature () dates back from the ancient Greek literature, beginning in 800 BC, to the modern Greek literature of today. Ancient Greek literature was written in an Ancient Greek dialect, literature ranges from the oldest surviving wri ...

. He also learned various eastern languages including Coptic, Syriac,

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

, and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

. In 1792–1794, in service of the

Republic of Lucca The Republic of Lucca () was a medieval and early modern state that was centered on the Italian city of Lucca in Tuscany, which lasted from 1160 to 1805. Its territory extended beyond the city of Lucca, reaching the surrounding countryside in th ...

, he was appointed to a diplomatic post in Vienna. In 1798, he was sent to Paris to lobby for the Republic, threatened by the

French Revolutionary armies The French Revolutionary Army () was the French land force that fought the French Revolutionary Wars from 1792 to 1802. In the beginning, the French armies were characterised by their revolutionary fervour, their poor equipment and their great nu ...

. He was able to return to Lucca in 1800, and served in various ministerial positions in Lucca. In 1805, he served in a delegation sent by Lucca to the coronation of Napoleon as King of Italy. He served in various posts in the principality of Lucca under the rule of

Elisa Bonaparte Maria Anna Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi Levoy ( French: ''Marie Anne Elisa Bonaparte''; 3 January 1777 – 7 August 1820), better known as Elisa Bonaparte, was an imperial French princess and sister of Napoleon Bonaparte. She was Princess of Lucca ...

. During this period the former Accademia degli Oscuri was converted into the Istituto Napoleone. He easily transitioned to working in the subsequent

Duchy of Lucca The Duchy of Lucca () was a small Italian state existing from 1815 to 1847. It was centered on the city of Lucca. History The Duchy was formed in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, out of the former Republic of Lucca and the Principality of Lucca ...

under the rule of

Maria Luisa of Spain Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain ( Spanish: ''María Luisa'', German: ''Maria Ludovika''; 24 November 1745 – 15 May 1792) was Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, and Grand Duchess of Tuscany as the spouse of Leopold II, ...

. However, as he became elder, he dedicated himself mainly to translations and writings about languages, arts, and chronicles of Lucca.

Selected Works

* ''Dell'origine del politeismo in Grecia''; ''Congettura intorno all'alfabeto greco''; * ''Dell'istituzione della vera tragedia greca per opera di Eschilo'' (

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

), reprinted in the third volume of Lucchesini's ''Opere''. * ''Saggio d'osservazioni sopra un'opera recentemente pubblicata col titolo: Feste e cortigiane della Grecia'', Lucca, 1806. * ''Della lingua italiana e delle altre lingue moderne d'Europa''; ''Delle lingue antiche e delle altre moderne, che si chiamano orientali'', Lucca, 1819; Lucca, 1826.

Notes

References

* * * 1756 births 1832 deaths Writers from Tuscany Italian philologists 19th-century Italian writers People from Lucca {{Italy-writer-stub