TOCCI, ANTONIO. - Priest and sociologist, born at Serravalle d'Appecchio (Urbino) in 1734, died at Cagli on 21 May 1814.
A pious and zealous priest, he devoted himself to the study of geography and law, became interested in Enlightenment and Encyclopaedist theories, and aspired to reconcile anti-religious doctrines with the precepts of Christianity, advocating social and economic reform on the foundation of the Gospels. A friend of Card. Ganganelli, when the latter became pope under the name of Clemente XIV, T. moved to Rome and for years worked on a weighty work (1778–84): La felicità per tutti, in six large volumes, which he subsequently reworked for a decade and undertook to publish only in 1794. The novelty and boldness of his doctrines encountered serious difficulties in ecclesiastical review, so that T., as a devoted son of the Church, consented to make all the alterations suggested to him. T.’s book still commends itself to the attention of scholars for its highly original content, advocating a new social order based chiefly on the development of agricultural production, while furnishing its plan of reforms with “innovative ideas in agronomy, economics, hygiene, and law” (Spadoni).
Renzo U. Montini