COPPI, ANTONIO. — Historian, b. April 22, 1783 in Andezno (Turin), d. Feb. 26, 1870 in Rome. He studied literature and philosophy at the Chieri College. Eager to enter the Society of Jesus, which, although suppressed, continued to exist under another name, he went to Rome but was not admitted. He then devoted himself to the study of jurisprudence and especially of history.
He therefore conceived the idea of continuing Muratori’s Annali d’Italia from 1750 onward. The publication, begun in 1848, was completed in 1867 in 14 volumes, plus two indexes, and extends to March 17, 1861. Coppi also occasionally held political positions. Thus in 1831 he was invited to draft a project for improvements in the papal government based on the Memorandum of the Great Powers. At the beginning of Pius IX’s pontificate he was part of the censorship council on the press and was numbered by the Pope among the hundred advisers who were to constitute the municipal magistracy of Rome.