Doctor and entomologist

Venceslao Porta, doctor and entomologist, was born in Piacenza on 26 May 1874. He soon dedicated himself to the study of entomology and beetles and in 1903 founded the "Rivista Coleotterologica Italiana", which he edited for over ten years.

He was the author of numerous publications on the study of beetles. But his most important work was the great treatise on beetles entitled "Fauna coleoptorum italica", published in five volumes, partly in Piacenza and partly in Sanremo, the city he moved to after the war.

This work, of about three thousand pages, still represents a reference treatise for scholars, as it is practically the only comprehensive treatment of Italian beetles. A not insignificant detail is that Porta covered the entire printing costs.

He also practised his profession in San Remo, with a medical practice in Via Roma.

He died in San Remo on 2nd July 1971.

(source: Marco Mauro)