BRUZZA, LUIGI MARIA. – Barnabite, born in Genoa on 15 March 1813, died in Rome on 6 November 1883. He taught Latin and Greek literature for 40 years in various colleges of his Order (Parma, Vercelli, Naples, Moncalieri), and in 1867 became assistant general of the Barnabites. An archaeologist and learned historian of the antiquities of Vercelli, he corresponded and was on friendly terms with the leading archaeologists of his time, especially de Rossi, with whom he founded the Società romana dei cultori dell'Archeologia cristiana, and who wished him to be its first president until his death; for his part, B. was the driving force behind the first jubilee celebrations (1882) in honour of the great archaeologist.
Among more than ten pamphlets, mention should be made of the dissertations on the Tavole lusorie, most of them unpublished, later used by Fr. Ferrua for his study on the Tavole lusorie sorite in Epigraphica, 8 (1946), pp. 53–73; as well as the two volumes on Gaudenzio Ferrari and on the Artisti vercelesi, compiled by his confrere P. G. Colombo from the materials he had collected. His major works are: Iscrizioni antiche vercelesi (Rome 1874), proposed by Mommsen (CIL, V, 736) as a model of its kind and which earned him, among other distinctions, honorary citizenship of Vercelli. Each inscription is illustrated by a commentary that sometimes leads to lengthy digressions, and all are preceded by a highly learned historical-topographical synthesis of the ancient history of the city and its territory; Il Regesto Tiburtino (Rome 1880–86), the first essay towards a broad historical-topographical commentary, left in draft, on the entire Tiburtine territory and the Via Valeria; Le Iscrizioni sui marmi grezzi (Rome 1870, pp. 100), originating from all parts of the Empire and arriving at the Emporium of Rome.
In Rome he devoted himself with particular interest and exceptional insight to the ancient private Instrumentum, especially Christian material, publishing many interesting examples of his research in various periodicals and at the regular meetings of the « cultori dell'archeologia cristiana ».