Francesco Saverio Manetti also speltXaviero orXaverio Manetti (Latinized asFranciscus Xaverius Manetti civis Florentinus) (12 November 1723 – 12 November 1785) was an Italian physician,botanist andornithologist. Among his works is the treatise on birds,Ornithologia methodice digesta orStoria naturale degli uccelli (1776). The plant genusManettia was named in his honour byCarl Linnaeus.
Manetti was born in Brozzi to Giovanni Bernardo and Maria Teresa Nesiscolt of Prague. His early studies were in Florence and later at Pisa where he studied botany underPier Antonio Micheli. He graduated in medicine in 1745 and worked in Florence. In 1758 he joined the National Medical College where he studied anatomy underAntonio Cocchi (1695–1758), conducting the autopsy of Cocchi.[1] Manetti was Professor of Botany of the "Società Botanica Fiorentina", a member of theGerman Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, a Fellow of theRoyal Society, learned societies inGöttingen andMontpellier, anAccademico dell'Istituto di Bologna and he maintained scientific contacts with the Swedish botanistCarl Linnaeus and with the main scientific circles of the second half of the 18th century.
He was supervisor of theOrto Botanico di Firenze in Florence from 1749 to 1782 succeeding toGiovanni Targioni Tozzetti and Secretary of theAccademia dei Georgofili. With remarkable organizational effort, he secured the publication ofStoria naturale degli uccelli, Natural History of the birds, a monumental work in five volumes illustrated with 600 hand-coloured engravings based onwatercolor paintings. The book was commissioned byMaria Luisa, Grand duchess of Tuscany and the first volume was dedicated to Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo. The third volume was dedicated to Ferdinando di Brobone and the fourth to Giorgio Nassau Clavering.[2] The engravings were made by Tuscan abbot and engraver Lorenzo Lorenzi andViolante Vanni who had studied under British engraverRobert Strange. Engraving was an unusual profession for women in Florence during the period.[3]
Manetti also took interest in agriculture and wrote a book on the varieties of wheat. He also wrote on wine and viniculture,Oenologia toscana (1773) under the pen-name of Giovanni Cosimo Villifranchi.[3]
Manetti was honoured by the plant genusManettia erected by Carolus Linnaeus.[3]
