GARAMPI, GIUSEPPE. - Cardinal and historian, b. at Rimini of a noble family on 28 or 29 Oct. 1725, d. at Rome on 4 May 1792.
While still very young, in Florence he struck up a friendship with Giovanni Lami; at Modena L. A. Muratori confirmed him in his passion for historical studies. Having gone to Rome, in 1749 he dedicated to Benedict XIV the work De mummo argenteo Benedicti III, in which he debunked, among other things, the explanation of the legend of Pope Joan and reconstructed the chronology of the popes in the 9th century. After receiving Holy Orders, on 14 Nov. 1749 he was appointed keeper in the Vatican Archive.
In 1755 he published the Memorie ecclesiastiche appartenenti all'istoria ed al culto della beata Clara da Rimini and in 1756 the Notizie, regole e orazioni in onore dei ss. Martiri della Basilica Vaticana. In 1759 he combined the "custody" of the Archive of Castel S. Angelo with that of the Vatican.
In 1761-62 he traveled in Germany, Switzerland, Holland and France. In 1763 Clement XIII sent him again to Germany for the negotiations for the Peace of Augsburg and then to the Diet of Frankfurt. Clement XIV (27 Jan. 1772) created him titular archbishop of Berytus and sent him as nuncio to Poland and then to Vienna in 1774. Pius VI, on his journey to Emperor Joseph II in 1782, took him as a companion, and in the Consistory of 14 Febr. 1785 created him cardinal.
G. left a library of rare printed books and manuscripts, rich in 16,630 volumes, which after his death was divided between the Vaticana and the Biblioteca Gambalunga of Rimini and in part was sold to Roman booksellers; of the works collected during his long stays abroad there remains the catalogue, in 5 large volumes, compiled by Mariano De Romanis (Rome 1796).
Of his travels in Europe G. left a diary, partly published, in which he shows himself a passionate researcher of antiquities and bibliography. A good diplomat, he was above all a scholar: with this spirit he undertook the enterprise of gathering in the Orbis Christianus whatever was missing from the works of Ughelli, Pirro, etc., in order to give a complete history of all the bishoprics, which was to consist of 22 volumes besides the diplomatic code. Of the gigantic work, the materials prepared by G. and his collaborators constitute the most extensive index for consulting the Vatican Archive. The slip files, collected and pasted into 124 folio volumes, are arranged according to eight classes (popes, cardinals, offices, churches of Rome, bishops, abbots, benefices, miscellany), besides a chronological index.