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Micheli Archive

The archive includes 72 manuscripts (marked 1-71, plus a volume 69bis), 2 volumes marked 29bis (the printed volume Nova plantarum genera, 1729, and one of printing proofs) and two volumes (72 and 73) of the General Alphabetical Index.

The botanical arguments prevail (66): Materials related to Nova plantarum genera, observations on mushrooms and plants harvested in the surroundings of Florence and in other herborizations. They are usually accompanied by an alphabetical index arranged by Filippo Parlatore. Some are autographs, others are made by scribes. The collection of images is rich indeed: Drawings (about 1300 attributed to Micheli himself) and about 2500 colour tables. According to his friend Antonio Cocchi, Micheli’s wish was that they should be published “for common good”. After an attempt by the Florentine Botanical Society they were acquired by the Targioni Tozzetti family, but neither Giovanni (Micheli's pupil) nor others succeeded in the intention, limited to sporadic publications: Catalogus plantarum horti caesarei Florentini in 1748 (curated by Giovanni) and the Catalogus operum (started by Giovanni and published in 1858 by Adolfo together with his Vita (life memoir). The manuscripts and herbarium passed to the Museum of Physics and Natural History in 1846 and between 1900 and 1905 to the Institute of Botany.

Other manuscripts coming from the Targioni family are preserved in the National Library of Florence.

Pier Antonio Micheli

(Florence, 1679-1737) was a botanist and mycologist (actually, the “father of mycology”), a traveller, from 1706 to the service of the Medici as a help of the guardian of the Giardino dei Semplici (Garden of the 'Simples' i.e. medicinal herbs) of Pisa and later a professor in Pisa and prefect of the Botanical Gardens of Florence. In 1717, together with Gualtieri, Franchi and Moniglia founded the Florentine Botanical Society.

Last update

29.01.2024