TOMASSETTI, GIUSEPPE. — Historian of medieval Rome, born in Rome on 4 April 1848 and died there on 21 January 1911. Having completed his classical studies at the Collegio Romano and obtained a degree in jurisprudence at the University of Rome, he began his historical investigations under the guidance of G. B. De Rossi, L. F. Bruzza, C. L. Visconti, and G. Henzen.
He was commissioned to reorganize the archives of several patrician families, including those of the Orsini and the Colonna, thereby deepening his knowledge of paleography and diplomatics. He extended his research to the State Archives and to those of the Chapters and Confraternities of Rome. A secondary-school teacher, he obtained the libera docenza in the history of Rome and of the Middle Ages at the University of Rome. In 1873 he published the monograph L'influenza degli Italiani sui loro conquistatori, notable for the original judgments expressed in II. This was followed by the studies: Il progresso delle colonie europee, La pace di Roma dell'a. 1188, Documenti feudali della provincia di Roma, Antichità della Sabina e della Campagna, Tavole per uso della scuola di epigrafia latina. T.’s major publication, the culmination and fruit of thirty years of work, is the history of the Roman Campagna, begun in 1892 with an account of the Via Nomentana and Via Salaria in the volumes of the Archivio della Società di storia patria; he subsequently turned to the Via Appia, Latina, Aurelia, and Casilina. T. resumed the project of A. Nibby (v.), adopting the more rational system of following the consular roads. The work was undertaken with a more rigorous critical method and a greater wealth of information than in earlier works of the kind, and he entitled it: La campagna romana antica, medioevale e moderna. T. was able to oversee the publication of vol. I (General Introduction) and vol. II (Via Appia, Ardeatina, Aurelia), which appeared in 1910. Death prevented him from completing the undertaking. His son, Dr. Francesco, continued it, publishing in 1913 vol. III (Via Cassia, Clodia, Flaminia, Tiberina, Labicana, and Prenestina); a fourth volume (Via Latina) was published in 1926. A distinctive feature of G. T.’s work is the connection it establishes between antiquity and the Middle Ages; moreover, everything he describes was seen by him during his continuous excursions in the Roman Campagna. T. was one of the most energetic founders of the Società Romana di storia patria, secretary of the Accademia di S. Luca, and a member of the Pont. Accademia romana di archeologia and of the German Archaeological Institute. Endowed with fertile versatility, sound wit, and a prodigious memory, T. was a remarkable teacher, above all in his art of bringing men and things of the past to life through the spoken word. His steadfast religious faith sustained him throughout his life amid alternating satisfactions and disappointments.