Pelliccia, Alessio Aurelio

PELLICCIA, ALESSIO AURELIO. - Neapolitan priest, historian, archaeologist, b. in 1740 (or '44), d. in 1823 (or '22).

At the age of 16 he composed a pamphlet on the origin and purpose of public and private prayers for sovereigns, which he also translated into Latin for the Empress Maria Theresa. A priest in 1781, he later obtained the teaching of Christian antiquities at the University of Naples. Under the reign of G. Murat he held the chair of diplomatics and was vicar general of the archdiocese. He was a member of the Constitutional Parliament of 1820.

Works: De christianae Ecclesiae primae, mediae et novissimae aetatis politia (2 vols., Naples 1777-81 and, better, Bassano 1782); notable are dissertation IV, De lapidaria et de siglis veterum Christianorum, which for its time was regarded as a manual of ancient Christian epigraphy; and dissertation V, De coemeterio sive catacumba Neapolitana, with a plan taken from Boldetti. Also: De publica et privata prece pro principibus, Naples 1789; Topografia di Napoli e sobborghi; Origine e vicende delle proprietà dalla discesa dei Longobardi; Cronache e diari del Regno di Napoli, ibid. 1780-1782, 5 vols.; Istituzioni della scienza diplomatica, ibid. 1813, and other dissertations on archaeological subjects.

Carlo Carletti