The Sandro (Alessandro) Pignatti donation consists of a personal collection of approximately 5,000 items, including monographs, journal issues, offprints, pamphlets, sheets of cards, tables, and correspondence with prominent authors in Vegetation Science such as Tuxen and Braun-Blanquet.
The collection was assembled over the course of Professor Pignatti’s university teaching activities, from around 1955 to the present, at the Universities of Pavia, Padua, Trieste, and Rome-Sapienza, as well as during his research in the fields of flora, vegetation, phytogeography, and ecology, with particular reference to Mediterranean and Alpine ecosystems.
In April 2016 and June 2020, Prof. Pignatti proposed to the Department of Environmental Biology the acquisition of the collection, requesting that it be preserved in the library as a single, unified collection.
In July 2020, the process of entering the materials into the National Library Service (SBN) catalogue began.
Sandro Pignatti held the position of Full Professor of Ecology from 1 November 1988 at Sapienza University of Rome and is currently Professor Emeritus at the same institution. Since 1999, he has been a member of the National Academy of the Lincei. The publications comprising the Collection relate to the study of flora and vegetation, including numerous monographic studies and specialist contributions from across Europe and, among other continents, particularly Japan and Australia. Many works also address environmental topics, such as the conservation of threatened and endangered habitats, national parks, the consequences of human impact, and the emergence and development of the environmentalist movement, particularly in Germany. Other works focus on forest vegetation, nature conservation, and the evolution of vegetation in European regions (Germany, Austria, the Balkans, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Eastern Europe, the Iberian Peninsula, France, Mediterranean regions) and Asia.
Additionally, works on evolutionary taxonomy form the central theme of the two editions of Flora d’Italia, the latest in four volumes (Bologna, Edagricole, 2017–2019), in which the Author introduced changes to the classification system of the botanical families described, using the most modern DNA-based approaches rather than traditional purely morphological classification.
All materials are classified by subject and geographic area, and in part are organized in binders arranged by sociological syntaxa. Some items are enhanced with dedications from their respective authors and handwritten notes signed by the professor. Certain documents bear an ownership stamp. Many works are unique to this personal collection, which represents a diverse and highly valuable compilation through which it is possible to trace a century of scientific history of the world, sometimes referred to by Pignatti as “the planet’s green belt.”
With this donation, the Library of the Department of Environmental Biology acquires a broad-ranging documentation on Vegetation Science, of which Sandro Pignatti, together with Tuxen and Braun-Blanquet, is considered one of the founding figures.
Pignatti donation
