Algario di Vittoria Altoviti Avila Toscanelli | Vittoria Altoviti Avila Toscanelli's Algarium

Vittoria Altoviti Avila (1837-1896), the only daughter of Marquis Francesco Altoviti d’Avila and Giuseppina Buonamici, got married in 1854 of Giuseppe Toscanelli (1828-1891), a wealthy entrepreneur of Swiss origin. From 1875 onwards, she spent a lot of time with the son, Giovanni Battista, at Villa Ottone on Elba island (Tuscany, Italy), devoting herself to the collection and study of algae, a field in which she also gained recognition from botanists in academic circles. She learnt the techniques of specimen preparation from Count Francesco Castracane degli Antelminelli (1817-1899) and corresponded with one of the most renowned phycologist of the time, Francesco Ardissone (1837-1910), with whom he established a friendship in 1880, as well as a fruitful intellectual exchange. She mainly undertook excursions on the island, often in the company of his son and the Florentine physician and photographer Giorgio Roster (1843-1927), but she also had the opportunity to collect specimens whilst taking part in cruises aboard the schooner ‘Olga’ and the cutter ‘Corinna’ in the waters of Central Mediterranean; the latter, also in the presence of the Italian zoologist and anthropologist Enrico Hillyer Giglioli (1845-1909). Apart a number of duplicates sent to Ardissone, nowadays preserved within the Israele Achille Italo Forti's Algarium in Padua (PAD), her main scientific legacy is the present collection, including specimens mounted on sheets of different size.

DOI 10.15468/6a7pp9CC BY-NC 4.0