Achille Forti
Achille Forti at work (1930s)
Library og the Botanical Garden,
University of Padua, Italy - IB.PP.19
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 - https://phaidra.cab.unipd.it/view/o:4384
On many sheets and labels of the algarium, there are pencil identifications that cannot be attributed to either Aristocle Vatova or Victor Schiffner, who have thus far been considered the only authors of the collection. The same handwriting appears on notes attached to some samples, which bear the autograph signature of Achille Forti or the printed phrase 'Dr. Achille Forti - Verona'. This handwriting is also present on the back of two photographs depicting two new varieties of Fucus virsoides, described by Forti based on the lagoon samples. Forti was therefore involved in the identification work; however, after studying a considerable number of samples, he ceased collaboration, likely due to a decline in his health.
The unexpected interruption slowed down the work and created the need to find another specialist, who was identified as Victor Schiffner. Perhaps due to the resulting disagreements, Forti's name is never mentioned among the contributors to the algarium, neither in the Monograph nor in the numerous commemorations published upon his passing in 1937. Forti is also not cited by Minio in the description of the collection published in 1941, despite the confidential and at times even friendly tone that emerges from the correspondence between the two, which began in the 1920s and continued until his death.
This surprising omission can also be explained by placing Forti's figure in a historical context: a respected scholar, an active member of the scientific community and its most important societies, as well as an enlightened patron, he belonged to a family of Jewish origin, and during those years, it was dangerous to name him publicly, especially in institutional settings.
Authograph label by Achille Forti attached to the sheet 327 (MSNVE-26245)