PREDELLI, RICCARDO. — Scholar, born in Rovereto on 19 May 1840, died in Venice on 1 March 1909. Forced to leave his native Trentino because of his Italian sentiments, he moved to Venice, where he worked for a banking house.
In 1868, T. Gar, director of the State Archives of Venice, appointed him as his collaborator, and for many decades P. was the driving force behind the Venetian archives, where he also taught palaeography and diplomatics. Not only did he reorganise and catalogue the rich archival collections, but he also published a large number of original studies, such as the *Saggio di scritture in cifra* used by the Venetian Republic, the Regesta of the *Liber Communis*, and the *Libri Commemoriali* of the Venetian Republic. He devoted particular care to investigating the historical relations between the Most Serene Republic and his Trentino, publishing a very rich selection of *Monumenti veneto-trentini*. A member of many Italian and foreign academies, he was a leading figure in Venetian Catholic organisations, which led him to serve as a municipal councillor in the Grimani administration. He exercised a beneficial influence on the student youth, of whom he was an example of moral integrity and deep piety.