31 Aug The first volume of WBA Monographs is in printing!
The first volume of the new series WBA Monographs: “Le piante di Francesco Calzolari” is finally in printing. This prestigious work has a great scientific and historical value and is the fruit of a very long labour of our member prof. Daniele Zanini who, with this volume, pays homage to Francesco Calzolari and to his plants. The book is dedicated to the precursor of the veronese naturalism and represents the definitive recognition of the value of Calzolari as naturalist, as well as chemist. The spirit that animated Calzolari in his herborizations on the “botanical mountain” lives again, intact, in the rigorous and meticulous analysis of Zanini of over 450 plants enumerated by Calzolari in “The Travel of Monte Baldo of the Wonderful City of Verona” of 1566, preserved in his Theatrum Naturae, cited in his epistles and used in his famous Theriaca. Each one of these species is furnished with a report with historical, botanical and pharmacological informations.
This work can represent also an important instrument in evaluating the environmental modifications elapsed in the last centuries in the veronese region, through a comparative analysis between the plants living in the sixteenth century and the ones living today in this territory. The changes, often caused by man, can help us in understanding how important is to consider these aspects in the the land-use planning, before realizing changes of great impact on the environment.
In spite of the unexpected difficulties in finding funds to publish this prestigious volume, printed by Cierre Grafica of Verona, WBA and the Scientific and Editorial Committe of the Association have firmly supported the new Project and want to thank the Institutions that in various ways contributed to the publication of this book, in particular, the Regional Committee for the celebration of the fourth centenary of the death of Francesco Calzolari, the Municipality of Ferrara di Monte Baldo and the Accademy of Agriculture Sciences and Letters of Verona.
Take a look to Le Piante di francesco Calzolari!