BARSOTTINI, GEREMIA. - Born in Versilia at Levigliani, in the commune of Stazzema, on 8 May 1812. At the age of 18 he entered the Piarist Congregation and had as his teachers in his studies Fr. Zucconi, Fr. Gatteschi, and Fr. Inghiriani. He began his teaching of rhetoric at a very young age, first at the college in Urbino and then at the college in Modigliana; ordained a priest in 1836, he moved on to teaching higher humanities in Florence, succeeding Fr. Gatteschi in the rhetoric classes in 1848.
Though he cultivated studies in theology, Sacred Scripture, and patrology, B. devoted his life to literary activity. Among the school works that remain to us are: *Raccolta di prose e poesie* [Collection of Prose and Poetry], *Collegamento di brani scelti dell'Iliade* [Linking of Selected Passages from the Iliad], and *Lezioni di retorica* [Lessons in Rhetoric]. Notable are his sermons, moral and patriotic speeches, funeral orations, epigraphs, and poems, among which we may cite: fifteen canticles to the Virgin, poetic compositions for priests, new shepherds, and some sacred dramas: *Debora e Giaele* [Deborah and Jael], *Ester* [Esther], *L'ultimo giorno di Gerusalemme* [The Last Day of Jerusalem]. Towards the end of 1856 he left Florence after having been elected rector of the schools at Pietrasanta. He remained there for nearly twenty years; upon his return to Florence he died on 1 June 1884. For his tomb, Fr. Mauro Ricci, his pupil, composed the epigraph. Among his pupils he counted Giosuè Carducci, who recalled him in a jest (*Opere*, I, pp. 308–10) and in a prose piece on *I venienti di Rossetti* (*Opere*, XVIII, pp. 241–42). A man of refined taste, B. worthily represented in Florence that classical school which, among ecclesiastics, had such representatives as Mons. Golfieri in Bologna and Abbot Missirini in Rome.