BASSI, AGOSTINO. — A lawyer by profession and a naturalist by vocation, he was born in Mairago (Lodi) in 1773 and died in Lodi in 1856. By studying the *calcinaccio* or "mal del segno" of silkworms, he attributed it to a fungus (named in his honor *Botrytis bassiana*), thus initiating, in 1835, the era of bacteriological discoveries and paving the way for the doctrine of pathogenic microorganisms (the agent of contagion is a living being). He should be regarded as one of the great naturalists of the 19th century and perhaps as the most original. A very pious man, B. often attributed the credit for his discoveries to Providence in his writings.
Among his works, the following is notable: *Mal del segno, Calcinaccio o moscardino, malattia che affligge i bachi da seta* (Lodi 1835-36).