CARONNI, FELICE. — Barnabite, born in Monza in 1747, died in Milan on 15 April 1815. Professor of rhetoric at Arpino and Livorno, he cultivated eloquence; but above all he devoted himself to the study of languages—he had permission to recite the breviary in Greek, and expressed himself in almost all modern languages—as well as to archaeology and numismatics, which afforded him the opportunity to travel through the various nations of Europe. On one of his journeys he fell prisoner to pirates, who detained him for three months in Tunis; he took advantage of this to study Carthage and its surroundings. He left his own collection of medals, comprising 2,015 coins and medals, to the cathedral of Monza.
Among his works, the following should be mentioned: Ragguaglio del viaggio compendioso di un dilettante antiquario, sorpreso dai corsari, condotto in Barberia e felicemente ripatriato (Milan 1805); Ragguaglio di alcuni monumenti di antichità ed arti raccolti negli ultimi viaggi (ibid. 1806). He was almost solely responsible for the description of the museum of Count C. M. Wizkai at Hedewar (Hungary), published, however, without his name: Musei Hedervarii in Hungaria nummos antiquos graecos et latinos descripsit... C. M. Wizkai (Vienna 1814).