Giovanni Casoni

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Giovanni Casoni (born January 15, 1783 in Venice ; † January 30 or 31, 1857 ) was a Venetian engineer, but also a historian, archaeologist and museum director and collector of archaeological finds, manuscripts, coins and books.

Life

Born the son of Laura Griselini, who came from Schio , and the Ferrarese Francesco Saverio, Giovanni grew up in the municipality of San Moisè . The father was the credenzier of the Contarini family , the mother was a niece of the scholar Francesco Griselini .

Giovanni learned from the engineer Giovanni Battista Giovin Manocchi and the architect Girolamo Corbolin . He initially worked as a surveyor, but he increasingly dealt with hydraulics . After 1797 he worked in this area for various authorities that arose on the territory of the former Republic of Venice . In 1812 he was hired by the Ministry of War and the Navy of the Kingdom of Italy on a project to draw up plans for ship factories. In 1818 he was hired by the Austrians as an architect for the Imperial Navy . From 1841 he was Ingegnere idraulico of the Navy, from 1852 he was appointed director of all of Venice's marine factories. In this position he worked on studies of the port of Malamocco , the current conditions in the lagoon and the disputes over the Brenta regulation from 1789 to 1792. He was filled with enthusiasm for the gloriously imagined Republic of Venice, which in so in sharp contrast to the decline under Austrian rule. Above all, he dealt with the theaters, epitaphs , but also with games or the translation of the remains of Paolo Sarpis .

Casoni was an admirer of his great-uncle Francesco Griselini ; at the same time he was friends with Emmanuele Antonio Cicogna . He began to deal with books and manuscripts, maps and prints and to publish them in the Memorie dell ' Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti . In 1830, for example, a verbose article on the epidemic of 1630 appeared under the title La peste di Venezia nel MDCXXX. Significantly more important were his Guida per l'Arsenale di Venezia from 1829 and a contribution to the Venetian Navy in the anthology Venezia e le sue lagune from 1847 the title Breve storia dell'Arsenale .

During the extensive work in the lagoon, he collected a large number of finds, whereupon in December 1856 he was appointed director of the Museo di storia, di antichità e del mare , which had been created in the arsenal.

In 1848 he supported the revolutionaries under Daniele Manin , was himself elected to the Assemblea provinciale and took an active part in the defense against the Austrian besiegers. He mainly contributed his technical knowledge. After the defeat, he was only classified as a follower; in any case, as a patriot “neither with deeds nor with writings” had shown any particular hostility towards the “legitimate government”. So he got jobs with his former employer. As early as 1852 he was reinstated in his technical functions, in 1856 chief engineer and director of the naval museum. But he died a few months later. He left his valuable collection of coins, documents and manuscripts to Emmanuele Cicogna.

Works (selection)

  • Guida per l'Arsenale di Venezia , 1829.
  • La peste di Venezia nel MDCXXX , 1830.
  • Breve storia dell'Arsenale note e cenni sulle forze militari, marittime e terrestri della Repubblica di Venezia , G. Antonelli, 1847.

swell

The cod in the Civico Museo Correr is central to the Casoni tradition . Cicogna 3659 / i.

literature

  • Paolo Preto:  Casoni, Giovanni. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 21:  Caruso – Castelnuovo. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1978.
  • Guglielmo Zanelli: Giovanni Casoni e le fabbriche dell'Arsenale sotto le occupazioni straniere , in: Giorgio Rossini, Roberta Battaglia, Gabriella Delfini: Venezia fra arte e guerra 1866-1918. Opere di difesa, patrimonio culturale, artisti, fotografi, Catalogo della mostra (Venezia, 13 December 2003-21 March 2004) , Mazzotta, Venice 2003, pp. 51-63.

Remarks

  1. ^ In 1856 a memorandum with the title Intorno alcune opere idrauliche allo scopo di migliorare la condizione del bacino interno al Porto di Malamocco e di regolare le correnti di riflusso a vantaggio della nuova foce apertasi davanti il ​​porto medesimo was published .
  2. ↑ Cicogna himself calls it "il chiarissimo amico mio" ( Emmanuele Antonio Cicogna : Delle Inscrizioni Veneziane Raccolte ed Illvstrate , vol. 6, Giuseppe Orlandelli, 1853, p. 249, note 87).
  3. ↑ Pietro Rigobon: Gli eletti all Assemblee veneziana del 1848-49 , Venice 1950 S. 65th
personal data
SURNAME Casoni, Giovanni
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Venetian engineer, historian, archaeologist and museum director
DATE OF BIRTH January 15, 1783
PLACE OF BIRTH Venice
DATE OF DEATH January 30, 1857 or January 31, 1857