Giuseppe Bencivenni Pelli or Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1729 - 31 July 1808) was an Italian civil servant and essayist. Born and dying in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, he served as director of the

Uffizi Gallery The Uffizi Gallery ( ; , ) is a prominent art museum adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of ...

from 1775 to 1793. He was the last member of a Florentine patrician family.

Life

Orphaned early in life, he studied law at the

University of Pisa The University of Pisa (, UniPi) is a public university, public research university in Pisa, Italy. Founded in 1343, it is one of the oldest universities in Europe. Together with Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and Sant'Anna School of Advanced S ...

but did not gain his doctorate. In 1758 he joined the Secretariat of State of the

Grand Duchy of Tuscany The Grand Duchy of Tuscany (; ) was an Italian monarchy located in Central Italy that existed, with interruptions, from 1569 to 1860, replacing the Republic of Florence. The grand duchy's capital was Florence. In the 19th century the population ...

. A supporter of the Tuscan Enlightenment, he wrote several books, essays and dissertations on art and culture. In the 1770s, he replaced the scholar

Giovanni Lami Giovanni Lami (8 November 1697 – 6 February 1770) was an Italian jurist, church historian, and antiquarian. Early years and education He was born at Santa Croce sull'Arno (between Pisa and Florence) into a relatively affluent family; his pate ...

as the editor of the erudite "Novelle letterarie" journal of Florence. He also wrote the 80-volume ''Efemeridi'', a collection of diaries offering an incredible fresco of Florentine society between 1750 and 1799. He died in Florence.

Works

''Efemeridi''
, Florence, 1759-1808 - preserved in the

Biblioteca nazionale centrale di Firenze The National Central Library of Florence (, BNCF) is a public national library in Florence, the largest in Italy and one of the most important in Europe. It is one of the two central libraries of Italy, along with the . History The library was f ...

. * ''Memorie per servire alla vita di Dante Alighieri ed alla storia della sua famiglia'', Venice, Zatta, 1759. * ''Nuovi dialoghi dei morti'', Florence, 1770.
''Saggio Istorico della Real Galleria di Firenze''
Florence, 1779.
''Catalogo delle pitture della Regia Galleria''
Florence, 1779. * ''Sbozzo di una dissertazione sopra la pena di morte'', Florence, 1760-1761 - preserved in the

Archivio di Stato di Firenze The Archivio di Stato di Firenze, is the repository for the public records and archives of the Italian city of Florence. The archive holds over 600 fonds dating back to the 8th century which, laid out in a line, would stretch over 75 km (46 miles) ...

(Archivio Pelli Bencivenni, cartella 13 inserto 170)

References

Bibliography

* Philippe Audegean, ''Le plus ancien programme de l'abolitionnisme italien: le'' Discorso della pena di morte ''de Giuseppe Pelli (1760-1761)'', in ''La peine de mort'', edited by Luigi Delia and Fabrice Hoarau, ''CORPUS, revue de philosophie'', 62 (2012), pp. 135–156. * Silvia Capecchi, ''Scrittura e coscienza autobiografica nel diario di Giuseppe Pelli'', Roma: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2006. * Miriam Fileti Mazza, Bruna M. Tomasello, ''Galleria degli Uffizi 1775-1792. Un laboratorio culturale per Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni'', Modena: Franco Cosimo Editore, 2003. * Miriam Fileti Mazza, Bruna M. Tomasello, ''Catalogo delle pitture della Regia Galleria compilato da Giuseppe Bencivenni già Pelli. Gli Uffizi alla fine del Settecento'', 2004. *

External links

*
Le Efemeridi di Giuseppe Bencivenni Pelli
, edited by the

Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze The National Central Library of Florence (, BNCF) is a public national library in Florence, the largest in Italy and one of the most important in Europe. It is one of the two central libraries of Italy, along with the . History The library was f ...

*
Opere di bencivenni Pelli
- on the site of th
Fondazione Memofonte
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelli, Giuseppe 18th-century essayists Italian essayists Italian male essayists 1729 births 1808 deaths 18th-century Italian writers 18th-century Italian male writers Italian art historians Italian biographers Italian diarists Directors of the Uffizi Italian male non-fiction writers 18th-century diarists Writers from the Grand Duchy of Tuscany