Domenico Viviani

Who is Domenico Viviani?

Domenico Viviani was an Italian botanist and naturalist.

In 1803, he was named professor of botany at the University of Genoa, where he is credited with the founding of its botanical garden. He is known for his natural history studies of the Ligurian region as well as botanical investigations of flora native to other areas of the Italian mainland, Sardinia, Corsica, and Libya.

In 1804, Antonio José Cavanilles named the botanical genus Viviania in his honor. He bequeathed his library of 2000 volumes from the 16th to the 19th century to King Charles Albert of Sardinia, who in turn donated the books to the University of Genoa library. His herbarium in Genoa was destroyed due to the ravages of war, however, some of his specimens can be located in other herbaria.