BRESADOLA, GIACOMO. - Priest, mycologist, b. at Ortisei (Trento) on 14 February 1847, d. at Trento on 9 June 1927. Ordained priest in 1870, chaplain in various places and parish priest at Magnas, he moved to Trento in 1884; first as administrator of the Cathedral Chapter, then as a pensioner. On the occasion of his eightieth birthday, Pius XI appointed him corresponding member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Nuovi Lincei.
He studied fungi with passion, especially micromycetes and basidiomycetes, revising and arranging catalogues of species, discovering others that were new, and maintaining correspondence with all the foremost mycologists in the world. In addition to many articles in specialized journals, he published: Funghi mangerecci e velenosi nell'Europa media (Milan, 1879); Fungi tridentini novi et nondum delineati,
dascripti et iconibus illustrati (I, Trento, 1881; II, ibid., 1892-1900). His scientific output was collected and published under the editorship of G. B. Traverso in 26 vols., with 1,000 plates (Milan, 1917-33). He thus described, among others, more than 1,000 new species. The herbaria he compiled, acquired by scientific museums in Europe and America, were also much sought after.