**STOPPANI, Antonio.** — Priest and scientist, born in Lecco on 15 August 1824, died in Milan on 10 January 1891.
At the age of eleven he entered the seminary, first in Lecco and then in Milan. He took part in the Five Days of Milan in 1848 — particularly engaged in preparing small hot-air balloons with which the insurgents communicated with nearby cities — and then followed the Sardinian army, attached to the ambulances. Ordained priest a few months later, he was entrusted with teaching Italian and Latin literature at the Milanese seminary of S. Pietro Martire. However, in 1853 the Austrian authorities had him removed from this position because of his patriotic sentiments. He then became a tutor in the Porro household, where he began to devote himself to geological studies, in which he would achieve international renown: the publication of the *Studi geologici paleontologici sulla Lombardia* (Geological and paleontological studies on Lombardy, Milan 1857) and then the four volumes of the *Paleontologie lombarde* (Lombard paleontology) earned him the chair of geology at the University of Pavia (1861) and at the Higher Technical Institute of Milan (1862), where he taught thereafter, except for a five-year period (1878–1883) spent at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Florence. In Milan, from 1882 until his death, he also directed the Civic Museum. In 1866 he served as a military chaplain during the Third War of Independence, working in field hospitals. In 1874 he visited the Holy Land and the Near East; during a lengthy convalescence in Damascus due to a travel accident, he wrote the fine book *Da Milano a Damasco* (From Milan to Damascus).
To the scientist — undoubtedly the greatest Italian geologist of his age and among the most highly regarded in Europe — we owe, in addition to those already mentioned, numerous and important works, among which the three volumes of the *Corso di geologia* (Course in geology, Milan 1871–73) hold first place. But his fame is particularly tied to a popular book, *Il bel Paese* (The Beautiful Country, 1st ed., Milan 1875), which went through countless reprints. In this work, Stoppani not only popularizes a difficult subject by imagining himself addressing a group of children, but in prose reminiscent of Manzoni, he becomes a teacher, not only of science, but of Christian piety and love of country. In *Il bel Paese* we find all of Stoppani: his ardent religious faith and sincere patriotism, which he — like other priests, especially Lombard ones, of his time — sought to instill in the hearts of Italians. It is thus understandable why he was among the most ardent "transigenti" (for the meaning of the term, cf. F. Fonzi, *I cattolici e la società ital. dopo l'Unità*, Rome 1953, ch. 3) and why he ardently hoped for an end to the conflict between Church and State. Believing that the responsibility for the lack of agreement between the two powers lay with certain circles in the Roman Curia, he published a book with the significant title *Gl'intransigenti* (The Intransigents, Milan 1886), in light of the new and most recent developments, to argue for the necessity that the Pope be left free to make decisions he deemed best for the good of the Church (i.e., reconciliation with the Italian State), without anyone holding him back by clinging to political situations now past. The volume was submitted to the Holy Office, much to Stoppani’s distress. He compounded the error by addressing an "open letter" to Leo XIII in the pages of the *Rassegna nazionale* (1 March 1892), in which he expounded:
*Il Dogma e le scienze positive* (Dogma and the Positive Sciences), a work much praised by the Pope, in which Stoppani sought to demonstrate how scientific inquiry in no way contradicts revealed truths: a work of sound doctrine and of the highest apologetic value. On the same theme of reconciling faith and science, he returned in the final years of his life with the two volumes of the *Exameron*, published posthumously (Turin 1893–94). He also ventured into the realm of literature proper (e.g., with *Asteroidi* (Asteroids), a book of verse, Milan 1879), but with decidedly inferior results.
**