FANI, MARIO. - Born at Viterbo of a noble family on 24 Oct. 1845; died at Rome on 4 Oct. 1869. ACQUADERNI, GIOVANNI (v.), founder of the Società della Gioventù Cattolica Italiana (1867), of which he had conceived a first circle, « S. Rosa da Viterbo », a few months earlier. The Association was approved by Pio IX in 1868 and had a banner
bearing the programmatic words Prayer, Action, Sacrifice (v. AZIONE CATTOLICA). In the following year, 1869, the superior council was established, and F. was elected councillor. Death overtook him in Rome, where he had come for the papal audience.
Gioventù Cattolica Italiana, in Civ. Catt. 1943, III, pp. 392-393; N. Fabrini, Il conte Giovanni Acquaderni, 2e ed., Roma 1945, pp. 23, 48-53. Concerning the F. family, cf. P. Artemi, Cenni biografici del conte Vincenzo F. Ciotti di Viterbo, con la memoria della famiglia F., Bologna 1877.