Luigi Fornaciari

(Lucca, 1798 – ibid., 1858). He studied grammar and rhetoric at the University of Lucca, also known as the “Public Educational Institute of San Frediano”. In 1820 he went to Rome to practise law and remained there for four years, at the end of which he returned to Lucca to take up the chair for the teaching of literature and Greek. In 1825, he married Teresa Martinelli who bore him four children. After admission in the following year to the Academy of Science, Literature and the Arts, he became its secretary. Following the publication in 1828 of a commentary on Pindar’s odes, he published Examples of Fine Prose Writing, 1829, and Examples of Fine Poetry Writing, 1830, establishing him as a significant representative of purist taste. In 1830 he entered the judicial system, first as a judge then as president of the Criminal Bar in Lucca, retaining only the chair in Greek. In 1837, he was appointed royal advocate and in 1845 Councillor of State. In 1847, he urged Duke Carlo Ludovico of Bourbon to a grant the Constitution: for this and for having pointed out the ills that afflicted society in Lucca at the time, he was relieved of his duties and his salary, which was restored to him at the request of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Leopoldo II, who appointed him procurator general and head of the criminal division of the Lucca’s Royal Court.

Following his appointment as royal advocate in 1837, he became aware of how often crime was the result of poverty and lack of education: he wrote and read lectures on poverty to the Academy of Lucca in order to have refuges established for children and help provided both for education and for support of those in need.