Available online http://amq.aiqua.it 
ISSN (print): 2279-7327, ISSN (online): 2279-7335 
 
Alpine and Mediterranean Quaternary, 34 (1), 2021, 109-130 

THE QUATERNARY PALEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN THE CAMPAGNA ROMANA 
(CENTRAL ITALY) AT THE 19TH-20TH CENTURY TRANSITION: 

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW. 
 

Marco Romano 1, Beniamino Mecozzi 1, Raffaele Sardella 1 

 
1 Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Sapienza, University of Rome, Rome, Italy. 

 
 

 
Corresponding author: Beniamino Mecozzi <beniamino.mecozzi@uniroma1.it>  

 
ABSTRACT: The Rome Basin, including the historical region of Campagna Romana, is considered as one of the most important 
sedimentary basin of Peninsular Italy for a paleontological viewpoint. A very high number of fossiliferous findings were collected 
from deposit which have a strong relationship with the evolution of the Tiber River fluvio-deltaic evolution (the “Paleo-Tiber” sy-
stem). This evolution is the result of complex geological processes including tectonic, volcanism and glacio-eustatic fluctuations. A 
myriad of fossils were recovered during the end of 1800 and the beginning of 1900, mainly thank to the intense urbanization which 
affected the city of Rome. The majority of these historical fossil collection are today stored at “Museo Universitario di Scienze della 
Terra”, Sapienza, University of Rome (MUST), whereas sporadic specimens are kept in the scientific cabinets of several high 
school of the city or Latium villages. Several personalities of that time played a key role in the study of Quaternary fossiliferous 
deposits describing stratigraphical succession and fossil remains. The knowledge of these researchers and their histories have a 
crucial importance to reconstruct the storytelling of the historical fossil collection and to get more information on fossiliferous depo-
sit today destroyed by urbanization or buried below anthropogenic deposits. 
 
Keywords: Quaternary fauna, history of palaeontology, history of geology, Giuseppe Ponzi, Alessandro Portis. 
 

1. INTRODUCTION 
 

The city of Rome is placed in the centre of the 
historical region of Campagna Romana (Roman Cam-
paign). Complex geological processes, occurred in par-
ticular during the Middle Pleistocene, are at the origin of 
the landscape where the “Città Eterna” (Eternal City) 
was build (Funicello et al., 2006; Heiken et al., 2007). 
Remains of large fossil bones from the Roman area 
have been known since ancient times. However, due to 
the lack of knowledge in the field of zoology and com-
parative anatomy, in several cases the huge fossil 
bones served in the past centuries as basis for foraging 
the myths of giants, cyclops, leestrigons and lithophag-
es, as in many other cultures around the world (Mayor, 
2000; Avanzini & Kustatscher, 2016; Romano & Avanzi-
ni, 2019). When correctly recognized as the remains of 
fossil elephants, in several cases the findings were 
linked to the only historical occasions in which these 
animals reached the Italian peninsula, namely the ele-
phants led by Hannibal during the Punic Wars between 
Rome and Carthage (Romano & Palombo, 2017). 

Even if such interpretations may seem childish and 
superficial, we have to consider that fossils in general 

were interpreted as freaks of nature well into the eight-
eenth century (Rudwick, 1972; Accordi, 1975, 1978, 
1981, 1984; Morello, 1979, 2003; Romano, 2013, 2014, 
2016, 2018a; Romano et al., 2016), and even when 
recognized as remains of organisms they have long 
been explained as the result of the ‘Great Flood’, sent 
for punish the degenerate human race (Vai, 2003; Luzzi-
ni, 2009, 2013; Romano, 2017, 2018b, 2018c). 

Concerning huge vertebrate fossils found in the 
Campagna Romana, Herodotus reports of large bones 
ascribed to the giant Pallas found in Rome (Mazzella, 
1591; Romano & Avanzini, 2019). In reference to this 
finds, Calmet (1730) reports of the huge human skeleton 
found in Rome that, leaning against the buildings, was 
as tall as the city walls. Some fossil laminae of elephant 
molars, probably from the Campagna Romana (Kotsakis 
& Barisone, 2008), were preserved in the collection by 
Michele Mercati in the Vatican, illustrated by Giovanni 
Maria Lancisi in 1717 over a century after the death of 
Mercati in the famous work Metallotheca Vaticana. 

Kotsakis & Barisone (2008) reported that the 
French traveller De Mancony in 1644 mentioned ele-
phant bones found in the foundations of the Vatican and 
a hippopotamus canine discovered along the via No-

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Romano M. et al. 

tense urbanization, leading to the discovery of a large 
number of vertebrate fossil remains that were collected 
from the Campagna Romana (among others Meli, 1896; 
Ponzi, 1867, 1878; Portis, 1893). The fossil remains, 
mostly found in alluvial deposits of the Tiber River and 
tributaries, were later mainly referred to the Middle Pleis-
tocene (e.g., Ambrosetti, 1967; Conato et al., 1980; Di 
Stefano et al., 1998; Petronio & Sardella, 1998, 1999; 
Milli et al., 2004; Marra et al., 2014; Sardella et al., 2015; 
Iannucci et al., 2021; Mecozzi et al., 2021). These de-
posits are frequently constituted by volcanoclastic mate-
rials and are interlayered by volcanic deposits of the 
Sabatini or Colli Albani Volcanic Districts (Conato et al., 
1980; Milli, 1997; Giordano et al., 2003; Funiciello & 
Giordano, 2008; Marra et al., 2014; Marra et al., 2018). 
These historical paleontological heritages found their 
way into museum collections of the ‘Museo Universitario 
di Scienze delle Terra (MUST; former Museo di Paleon-
tologia), Sapienza, Università di Roma’. 

In the next sections, the biographies and geo-
paleontological studies of prominent personalities active 
on the Roman scene at the transition from the 19th and 
20th centuries are presented. These information are cru-
cial to understand the history of the fossil collections 
stored at MUST as well as those housed in other reposi-
tory of Rome and its surroundings. 

 
2. 19th TO 20th CENTURY STUDIES 
 

The earliest publication of a fossil elephant from the 
“diluvial” deposits in the countryside surrounding Rome 
at the time (Porta del Popolo) is due to Morozzo (1802, 
1803) (Kotsakis & Barisone, 2008). Later, large mam-
mals from the Campagna Romana have been described 
by Brocchi (1814, 1820), Cuvier (1834) and Pianciani 
(1836). 

Despite Cuvier (1834) was the first to suggest that 
fossil vertebrates from the Rome area should have been 
referred to different chronological phases, no others sci-
entists during the first half of XIX century provided a 
chronological framework for the discovered large mam-
mal assemblages. In the second half of the nineteenth 
century (up to 1870), the presence of French imperial 
troops in Rome in support to the Papal States brought 
several French naturalists including Édouard Lartet 
(considered the founder of paleontropology), Bleicher, 
Édouard de Verneuil and Frère Indes to analyse the 
continental deposits preserving fossil vertebrate remains 
(Kotsakis & Barisone, 2008), with several publications 
dedicated to the subject (Lartet, 1858; Bleicher, 1865a, 
1865b, 1866, 1867; Verneuil, 1865; Indes, 1869, 1870, 
1872). Worthy of note in this context is above all the 
figure of Frère Indes for being the first to organize and 
systematically conduct a paleontological excavation in a 
cave at the top of Monte delle Gioie, close to Ponte 
Salario (Indes, 1872; Fig. 1), an excavation from which 
hundreds of kg of fossil bones were unearthed (Kotsakis 
& Barisone, 2008). 

However, in this period contributions from Italian 
authors are also reported. Ceselli (1868) published a 
work entitled “Sopra l’arte ceramica primitiva nel La-
zio” (On the primitive ceramic art in Latium) addressed to 

mentana, stored at the private collection of Virgilio Ro-
mano (see also Segre, 2001).Some of these finds ended 
up in the well-known collection of the Kircherian Muse-
um, set up by the Jesuit of the Roman College Athana-
sius Kircher, and illustrated in 1709 by Filippo Bonanni. 
Accordi (1976) reports that these bones and molars were 
correctly referred to as elephant remains, but interpreted 
as the bones of extant animals brought to Italy from Afri-
ca under Antoninus Pius. 

Gregorio Roisecco (1750) describes the Cabinet of 
the Prince Chigi in his villa in Rome, built for the Abbot 
Salvetti and later subject to renovation works by Cardinal 
Chigi (Romano & Avanzini, 2019). Among the several 
curiosities and tricks of the Cabinet, which included “the 
corpse of a queen of Egypt, well preserved embedded in 
many bands, and explanation of her origins”, giant bones 
are also reported, probably coming from the Roman ar-
ea, however unfortunately lost with the rest of the collec-
tion. Pianciani in 1817 describes remains of quadrupeds 
from the territory of Viterbo in deposits of volcanic origin, 
with bones represented by shoulder blades, femora and 
five vertebrae founded for the first time in 1688 at Vitor-
chiano, and interpreted as bone of giants on the base of 
their huge size (Romano & Avanzini, 2019). The author 
is not surprised by this kind of preservation, since similar 
association between volcanic deposits and vertebrate 
fossil bones have been already reported near the 
‘Basilica di san Paolo’ at Ostiense in Rome, embedded 
in pozzolans and tufaceous deposits (Portis, 1900, Ro-
mano & Avanzini, 2019; Mecozzi et al., 2020). 

According to Kotsakis & Barisone (2008) the first 
real scientific contribution on mammal bones from the 
Campagna Romana dates back to the beginning of the 
nineteenth century, with the contributions by Morozzo 
(1802, 1803), which reports the discovery of a fossil ele-
phant from the “diluvial terrains” outcropping just out of 
‘Porta del Popolo’ in Rome. The teeth of this specimen 
were then subjected to chemical analysis by Morichini 
(1803, 1805), discovering for the first time the presence 
of fluorine in the animal world, including humans (see 
also Clèrici, 1932; Kotsakis & Barisone, 2008). 

Thus, for its great and peculiar geodiversity, since 
the end of the 19th century the stratigraphy of Campagna 
Romana focused the interest of scientists who began to 
study systematically the widely exposed volcanic rocks, 
the fluvio-lacustrine and coastal marine deposits and the 
fossil large mammal assemblages (Mecozzi et al., 2021 
and reference therein). The paleontological record from 
the Campagna Romana area are of great scientific inter-
est for the biochronology of the Middle Pleistocene. In 
fact, the names Galerian and Aurelian Mammal Ages 
derive respectively from Ponte Galeria and Aurelia Statal 
Road close to Rome (Ambrosetti et al., 1972; Gliozzi et 
al., 1997), where several fossil-bearing stratigraphic se-
quences are exposed on quarries and excavated. 

Since the 19th century the geo-paleontological stud-
ies on the Quaternary deposits of the Rome Basin pro-
vided a valuable amount of information about the geolog-
ical evolution of the region and to define early chronolog-
ical frameworks of the large mammal assemblages. Be-
tween the end of the 19th century and the beginning of 
the 20th century the city of Rome was subjected to in-



   

 

 

 

111 

the attention of Cavalier Luigi Pigorini, director of the 
Museo delle Antichità di Parma (Parma Museum of An-
tiquities). Although much of the work is devoted to the 
description of ancient vases from the Campagna Roma-
na, in the text Ceselli reports the discovery of a large 
elephant tooth (Fig. 2) found in 1846 near Ponte Mam-
molo in Rome “nei primi depositi quaternari unitamente 
a delle selci scheggiate” (in the first Quaternary deposits 
associated with chipped flints) (Ceselli, 1868, p. 6). The 
author points out the ‘gigantic size’ of the tooth, an ele-
ment that led him to give to the specimen the name 
‘Elephas elasmoeteron’, represented in Table II of the 
work. 

In 1870 Ceselli published a work on the lithic in-
dustry of the Campagna Romana, titled “Sunto della 

Memoria sopra gli studi paleontologici del bacino di Ro-
ma e sue adiacenze” (Summary of the Memory on the 
paleontological studies of the Rome basin and its adja-
cencies). Ceselli reports the discovery of flint worked by 
humans in Quaternary deposits near Ponte Mammolo, 
Monte Sacro, Tor di Quinto, Ponte Molle, Acquatraversa 
and Magliana in Rome, “mixed”, as the author writes, to 
the teeth and bones of Ursus speloeus, Jena speloea, 
Elephas antiquus, E. meridionalis, E. primigenius and E. 
elasmoreteron. 

Ceselli again in 1872 published the contribution 
entitled “Hippopotamus dactyliotus specie nova”. In the 
work, the author reports and describes a hippo fossil 
upper canine from Quaternary deposits outcropping at 
Ponte Mammolo, where other remains were referred to 
“Jena-Spoelea dell’Ursus-Spocleous dell’Elephas-
Antiquus (Falc.), Elephas elasmoreteoron (nobis), Ele-
phas-Africanus etc. etc.” (Ceselli, 1872, p. 6). According 
to Ceselli, the tooth shows such differences from those 
already described to justify the erection of a new spe-
cies. The author briefly reconstructs the history of hippo-
potamus studies starting from the first hints in Herodo-
tus, Aristotle, Diodorus of Sicily and Pliny the Elder, even 
if the first true description can be traced back to 1603 by 
the Italian surgeon Federico Zerenghi, in a text remained 
largely unknown until a rediscovery by Buffon (Ceselli, 
1872). According to Ceselli, whether the presence of 
more than one species of extant hippos remains highly 
doubtful, it is almost certain that in the past several spe-
cies must have existed as evidenced by the differences 
in the bone material (especially teeth characters) recov-
ered in Quaternary terrains. In the text Ceselli provides 
the diagnosis for the new species in Latium, stressing 
the differences in the canine he considered significant 
and underlining how “Nei terreni quaternari della Campa-
gna Romana la specie più abbondante è l’Hippopotamus
-major di Cuv.” (In the Quaternary terrains of the Campa-
gna Romana, Hippopotamus major Cuv. is the most 
abundant species. 

Francesco Anca (1872) deals with the elephant 
fossil teeth observed in the rich paleontological collection 

 

 
The quaternary paleontological research in the Campagna Romana (Central Italy) at the 19th-20th century transition: historical overview 

Fig. 1 - Geographical location of the fossiliferous deposits of 
Rome. 1-Aventino; 2-Batteria Nomentana; 3-Boccea; 4-
Campidoglio; 5-Campo di Merlo; 6-Casal dé Pazzi, Ponte Mam-
molo; 7-Castro Pretorio; 8-Cava Nera Molinario; 9-Monte Celio; 
10-Fondamenta BNL, Pincio, Quirinale; 11-GRA Km 2; 12-
Monte Antenne; 13-Monte delle Pliche; 14-Monte Mario; 15-
Monte Sacro; 16-Monte Verde; 17-Monti della Farnesina; 18-
Parioli; 19-Ponte Molle; 20-Porta Cavalleggeri; 21-Porta Flamin-
ia; 22-Porta Pia, Porta Salaria; 23-Prati Fiscali; 24-Redicicoli; 25
-Sant’Agnese; 26-San Paolo; 27-Saccopastore; 28-Sedia del 
Diavolo; 29-Tor di Quinto; 30-Via Aurelia; 31-Via Cassia; 32-Via 
del Tritone, Via Nazionale; 34-Via Ostiense; 35-Via Portuense; 
36-Vigna San Carlo; 37-Vigne Torte; 38-Villa Chigi.  

Fig. 2 - Elephant tooth found in 1846 near Ponte Mammolo in 
Rome, figured and briefly described by Ceselli in 1868 (modified 
from Ceselli, 1868). 



   

 

of the Reale Università di Roma (Royal University of 
Rome), accompanied by its director Prof. Ponzi, Sena-
tor of the Kingdom. As reported by the author, the re-
mains, largely represented by elephant teeth found 
isolated, came from the deposits of the Tiber and 
Aniene rivers. The purpose of the work was a compari-
son of the remains with those already described from 
Sicily in collaboration with his friend Prof. Giorgo Gaeta-
no Gemmellaro, and for this purpose he chose various 
teeth of Elephas antiquus from the fluvial deposits of 
Monte Pincio in Rome and from the conglomerates of 
Ponte Molle. Using the dental progression proposed by 
Falconer for elephants classification, Anca argues that 
the material should be referred to ‘Elephas Africanus’, 
even if, as reported by the author, Ponzi had strong 
doubts about such an interpretation. To resolve the 
issue, Anca realized cross sections of the teeth (Fig. 3) 
which, according to the author, show without any doubt 
that “tra i fossili romani insieme agli elefanti primigenio, 
antico, e meridionale v’ha altresì l’africano, che prima si 
credeva abitatore solo della Sicilia, ma che oggi dobbi-
amo ammetterlo diffuso in tutta l’Italia meridio-
nale” (among the Roman fossils together with the pri-
meval, ancient, and southern elephants there is also the 
African one, which was previously believed to be an 
inhabitant only of Sicily, but which today we must admit 
is widespread throughout southern Italy) (Anca, 1872, p. 
354). According to Anca, these elements would be evi-
dence supporting the hypothesis that the modern Afri-
can elephant derives from the southern one 

 

 

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Romano M. et al. 

(‘meridionale’), as demonstrated by the close affinity of 
the teeth characters. 
 
2.1. Giuseppe Ponzi (1805-1885)  

The second half of 19th century was characterized 
by the studies and the activity of Giuseppe Ponzi (Fig. 
4). At the beginning of his career, Ponzi was a doctor, 
graduating in medicine in 1829. Thanks to his study, 
Ponzi participates as a medical officer in the defence of 
Rome during the French siege of 1849 in the period of 
the Roman Republic. His military efforts for the defence 
of Rome as an officer of the papal guard continued in 
both 1867 and 1870 for the well-known ‘Breccia di Porta 
Pia’ (Breach of Porta Pia). Despite the prominent posi-
tions within the Papal States, and connections with the 
Curia, he managed to adapt quickly to the political 
changes that followed the annexation of Rome to the 
Kingdom of Italy (Argentieri, 2015). 

His University career started in 1832, as a collabo-
rator in the field of anatomy with the zootomy and zoolo-
gy cabinet, where gained the chair of comparative anat-
omy and zoology only during the 1838. 

Over and above the scientific contribution, Ponzi 
held positions of extreme importance, both locally, as 
municipal councillor in 1871, and national, as a senator 
from 1870. He was president of the Accademia dei Lin-
cei (Lincean Academy) from 1871 to 1874, member of 
the commission for the reclamation of the Campagna 
Romana (1871), member of the Reale Comitato Geolog-
ico d’Italia (Royal Geological Committee of Italy) from 
1871, chairman of the commissione per i materiali edilizi 
d’Italia (commission for building materials of Italy) and 
president of the Club Apino Italiani (Italian Alpine Club, 
CAI) from 1873 to 1875. He was also a member of sev-
eral academies, among which the Accademia dei Nuovi 
Lincei (Academy of the New Lincei) from 1848, Acca-
demia Nazionale delle Scienze (National Academy of 
Sciences) in 1875, corresponding member of the Istituto 
lombardo di Scienze e Lettere (Lombard Institute of 
Sciences and Letters) of Milan from 1876, member of 
the Società italiana delle scienze, detta dei XL (Italian 
Society of Sciences, known as the XL) and, internation-
ally, a member of the Société géologique de France 

Fig. 3 - Elephas molars from top view and in section described 
and figured by Anca in his work published in 1872 (modified 
from Anca, 1872). 

Fig. 4 - Historical marble bust of Giuseppe Ponzi, exhibited at 
the MUST,  University of Rome (photo by Alessio Argentieri). 



   

 

 

 
The quaternary paleontological research in the Campagna Romana (Central Italy) at the 19th-20th century transition: historical overview 

 

 

113 

(Geological Society of France) and of the Geological 
Society of London. 

The 1854 was a crucial year for his life, since he 
was assigned the teaching position of mineralogy at the 
Sapienza, University of Rome. Shortly thereafter, Pope 
Pius IX founded the geology chair at the Roman 
Archiginnasio, period when this teaching was separated 
from the chair in mineralogy for the first time. 

Ponzi holds both professorships, in particular that 
of geology until the end of his career and that of miner-
alogy until 1873. In 1873, the Scuola d’applicazione 
degli ingegneri di Roma (Application School of Engi-
neers of Rome) was established by royal decree, where 
Ponzi holds the position of professor of geology, geog-
nosy and mineralogy. 

From a paleontological viewpoint, the greatest 
merit of Ponzi was the foundation of the Geology and 
Palaeontology museum and the Geology cabinet at the 
Sapienza, University of Rome during the 1873. At first, 
the museum hosted the mineralogical collections of the 
former Mineralogy Museum that Ponzi yet directed, but 
these were quickly enriched from donations, such as 
that of the Turin palaeontologist Giovanni Michelotti in 
1880, and purchases (Fabiani & Maxia, 1953; Kotsakis 
& Barisone, 2008; Argentieri, 2015). Ponzi directed the 
museum until his death, with the help and support of his 
pupil Romolo Meli, who succeeded Ponzi in 1885. After 
1875, part of the collections of the famous Kircherian 
Museum also converged in the Sapienza collections. In 

fact, at the end of the nineteenth century the original 
collection of the Kircherian Museum was already essen-
tially dismembered and it was no longer preserved in the 
original seat of the Roman College. In particular, follow-
ing the suppression of the Compagnia di Gesù (Society 
of Jesus) decreed by Clement XIV in 1773, the collec-
tions of the Collegio Romano (Roman College) began to 
be dismembered and many specimens ended up in the 
collections of the Plio-Clemenino museum within the 
Musei Vaticani (Vatican Museums). Subsequently in 
1870, when Rome became capital of the Kingdom of 
Italy, much of the ecclesiastical property were expropri-
ated by the unitary state and in the Collegio Romano 
(Roman College) were located the Libreria Nazionale 
Centrale (National Central Library) and the Liceo Gin-
nasio Visconti (Visconti Gymnasium-Lyceum). 

In addition to the foundation of Palaeontology and 
Geology Museum, Ponzi was the first scientist that sys-
tematically and carefully studied the Campagna Roma-
na, from the forties of the nineteenth century, starting 
from classical studies by Italian naturalists such as Gian 
Battista Brocchi and Scipione Breislak. Ponzi proposed 
innovative modern approaches to the realization of the 
geological cartography (Fig. 4; Argentieri, 2015). For 
these innovative elements, and for the systematic char-
acter in the analysis of the Roman territory, Ponzi is 
rightly considered as the forefather or founder of the 
Roman geological school. Based on the field survey 
conducted under the papacy of Gregory XVI between 

Fig. 5 - Ponzi G. (1874), ‘Carta geologica per servire alla storia dei vulcani del Lazio in Storia dei vulcani Laziali Roma’: Salviucci, 1875. 
Cartographic collections of the ISPRA Library. Autographed miscellany by the author (Courtesy of ISPRA Library).  



   

 

 

 

114 

 

 
Romano M. et al. 

Fig. 7 - Original label and felid femur and ulna found at Ponte Molle form the collection of Giuseppe Ponzi preserved at MUST, University of Rome.  

Fig. 6 - Original label and canid lower hemimandible fragment found at Ponte Molle (Rome) form the collection of Giuseppe Ponzi pre-
served at MUST, University of Rome.  



   

 

1837 and 1846, and using Gaetano Spinetti's choro-
graphic map of the Papal State, Ponzi produced a very 
important document, the Geological Map of the Papal 
State at 1: 296,000 scale, which can be considered a 
milestone for the geological-cartographic representation 
for Central Italy (Argentieri, 2015). The scientific inter-
ests of Ponzi were multifaceted, he wrote about the 
geology of the Campagna Romana, the Latium volcan-
ism (Fig. 5), seismic phenomena and catastrophic sink-
ing. Concerning the present historical contribution, he 
published several seminal papers on the palaeontology 
of Pleistocene vertebrates from the Latium region (Figs. 
6-7). Most of these contributes immediately became 
reference points for decades. On the biochronology of 
the terrestrial mammals, it worth menioned his study on 
the Quaternary geology of Latium in 1875, in which he 
grouped the main geological events of the area in 3 
phases: i) the earliest “epoch” that included the Late 
Miocene-Pliocene sedimentary deposits, most of them 
of marine origin; ii) an intermediate volcano-glacial and 
diluvial “epoch”, followed by the younger iii) defined as 
post-glacial with an alluvial and a modern 
“epoch” (Ponzi, 1875). Moreover, in 1878 Ponzi pub-
lished a very important article about the subappenine 
fossil bones, with two faunal complexes considered: an 
older, preglacial one referable to the Pliocene, and a 
younger post-glacial Quaternary one (Ponzi, 1878). 
Such a general framework was widely accepted and 
used for decades. 
 
2.2. Giuseppe Augusto Tuccimei (1851-1915)  

Tuccimei (Fig. 8) earned several diploma, becom-
ing a doctor in medicine, natural sciences and canon 
law. After just a few years of practicing, he left the medi-
cal profession, devoting himself to his greatest passion, 
the natural sciences, enrolling again in courses at Sapi-
enza, University of Rome, and earning a degree in Nat-
ural Sciences in July 1876 (Meli, 1916). The degree 
thesis on geo-palentological topics was entitled “Fossili 
della sabbie gialle plioceniche di Acquatraversa sulla 
via Cassia, a 5 km da Roma” (Fossils from the Pliocene 
yellow sands of Acquatraversa on the Via Cassia, 5 km 
from Rome), based both on fossils collected directly by 
himself and on specimens made available by Romolo 
Meli from his private collection of fossils from Monte 
Mario and surroundings (Meli, 1916). 

Son of a well-known lawyer of the Apostolic Tribu-
nal of the Roman Rota, and with a mother descending 
from an illustrious Roman family, Tuccimei grew up in 
an environment closely linked to the Roman Pontiff and 
the Catholic Church; a social and cultural context that 
also influenced the author's thought and scientific activi-
ty. For his charisma, dedication, and fervour with which 
he carried out his ideas, Tuccimei held several promi-
nent positions, including president for the section of 
Natural Sciences of the Accademia Pontificia dell'Imma-

colata Concezione (Pontifical Academy of the Immacu-
late Conception) in 1880, vice president of the natural 
sciences section of the Società Cattolica Italiana per gli 
studi scientifici (Italian Catholic Society for Scientific 
Studies) in 1899, founding member of the Società Zoo-
logica Italiana (Italian Zoological Society) in 1892, and 

of Società Geologica Italiana (Italian Geological Socie-
ty), where he held the role of Secretary for the 1887-
1889 period and in 1893, and the position of Archivist 
for years 1884-1886 and 1890-1892. He was also a 
member of the Pontificia Accademia Romana de' Nuovi 
Lincei (Pontifical Roman Academy of the New Lincei) 
from 1883 and of the Società Storica Volsinese 
(Volsinese Historical Society) in 1890, member of sev-
eral academies including the Reale Accademia Valdar-
nese del Poggio di Montevarchi (Royal Valdarnese 
Academy of Poggio di Montevarchi), Accademia dell’Ar-
cadia (Academy of Arcadia), the Reale Accademia 
Francesco Petrarca di Arezzo (Royal Francesco Petrar-
ca Academy of Arezzo), Accademia di Religione Cattoli-
ca Romana (Academy of Roman Catholic Religion) 
(1896) and of the Reale Accademia degli Zelanti di 
Acireale in Sicilia (Royal Academy of the Zealous of 
Acireale in Sicily) (1893). Internationally, in 1893 he was 
also a corresponding member of the Zoological Society 
of Belgium and a member of the Geological Society of 
Belgium. 

He taught in the Philosophy Faculty of the Pontifi-

cia Università Lateranense (Pontifical Lateran Universi-
ty) and several Roman high schools, and he was one of 
the major opponent of the spread of the Darwinian theo-
ry of evolution in Italy. 

In the field of natural sciences he wrote on various 
topics including entomology, although his interest was 

 

 
The quaternary paleontological research in the Campagna Romana (Central Italy) at the 19th-20th century transition: historical overview 

 

 

115 

Fig. 8 - Photo of Giuseppe Tuccimei (GNU Free Documentation 
License).  



   

 

soon catalysed by geology and palaeontology. In 1880 
he published his first geological work entitled “I colli 
pliocenici di Magliano-Sabino” (The Pliocene hills of 
Magliano-Sabino), with description of the deposits crop-
ping out on the left bank of the Tiber valley and with an 
illustration and description of the fossil molluscs person-
ally collected. Several geological and paleontological 
works followed, especially in the Sabina area north of 
Rome, with structural-sedimentological contributions 
such as “Sulla struttura dei terreni che formano la cate-
na di Fara in Sabina” (On the structure of the terrains 
that form the Fara in Sabina chain) published in 1883, 
“Il sistema liassico di Roccantica e i suoi fossili” (The 
Liassic system of Roccantica and its fossils) of 1887, 
“Note stratigrafiche sopra la formazione secondaria dei 
monti Sabini” (Stratigraphic notes on the secondary 
formation of the Sabine mountains) published in 1890, 
but he also wrote about karst phenomena in the region 
“Sopra le cavità naturali dei monti Sabini” (On the natu-
ral cavities of the Sabine mountains published in 1886), 
and phenomena related to bradyseisms (“Bradisismi 
pliocenici della regione sabina”; Pliocene bradyseisms 
of the Sabine region, published in 1888). 

As far as the present contribution is concerned, he 
also dealt extensively with Pliocene and Pleistocene 
vertebrate faunas, with several papers including “Il Vil-
lafranchiano nelle valli Sabine e i suoi fossili caratteristi-
ci” (The Villafranchian in the Sabine valleys and its 
characteristic fossils) published in 1889, “Rinvenimento 
di avanzi di Elephas meridionalis Nesti, nel pliocene di 
Montoro” (Discovery of remains of Elephas meridionalis 
Nesti, in the Pliocene of Montoro) of 1890, “Resti di 
Arvicola nel pliocene lacustre della Sabina” (Remains of 
Arvicola in the lacustrine Pliocene of Sabina) of 1893, “Il 
Villafranchiano e l’Astiano nella valle tra i Corniculani e i 
lucani” (The Villafranchian and the Astian in the valley 
between the Corniculani and the Lucanians) published 
in 1895, “Sopra alcuni cervi pliocenici della Sabina e 
della provincia di Roma” (On some Pliocene deer of 
Sabina and the province of Rome) of 1898, “Sopra alcu-
ne ossa fossili di cervo trovate sulla via Aurelia” (On 
some fossil deer bones found on the Via Aurelia) of 
1899.  

As a matter of fact, by recognizing the characteris-
tic fauna, Tuccimei (1889) was the first to introduce the 
Villafranchian Stage in central Italy, a continental 
chronostratigraphic unit previously proposed by Pareto 
(1865) in Piedmont. Tuccimei (1889, 1895) considered 
the vertebrate-bearing Villafranchian sediments as Plio-
cene in age and overlying, by an angular unconformity, 
Astian marine deposits, a theory disproved in those 
years by Clèrici (1895d) who, conversely, recognized 
the lateral continuity between Astian and Villafranchian 
sediments (see also Girotti & Mancini, 2003). 

An interesting contribution was “Alcuni mammiferi 
fossili delle provincie Umbra e Romana” (Some fossil 
mammals from the Umbrian and Roman provinces) 
(Tuccimei, 1891) which earned him the prize from the 
Ministry of Education, on the special proposal of the 
Accademia Reale dei Lincei (Royal Academy of the 
Lincei) (Meli, 1916). In the contribution, Tuccimei de-
scribes the remains of Mammuthus meridionalis and 

 

 

116 

 

 
Romano M. et al. 

Mastodon arvernensis found in the land of the Marquis 
Patrizi in 1857 at Nera Montoro, Hyppopotamus major, 
Rhinoceros etruscus, Equus stenonis from the Farfa 
valley, the remains of Castor fiber founded in Sabina 
and of Elephas antiquus from deposits exposed along 
the Tiber valley. 
 
2.3. Other personalities  

The transition from 19th to 20th century was char-
acterized by several discoveries and studies. The base 
of data of large mammal faunas increased thanks to 
the work of Terrigi (1883), De Angelis d’Ossat (1895), 
Napoli (1907, 1911), Rellini (1916), Battaglia (1918) 
and Neviani (1926). The most active personalities dur-
ing the transition between the two centuries were: 
Romolo Meli, Enrico Clèrici and Alessandro Portis 
(Kostakis & Barisone, 2008). To these authors we owe 
a truly substantial number of studies and works on Plio-
Pleistocene vertebrates from the Campagna Romana, 
with contributions ranging from simple reporting of fos-
sil remains found during excavations or during purely 
geological works, up to systematic review works on 
entire groups. 

 
2.4. Romolo Meli (1852-1921)  

Romolo Meli (Fig. 9) dedicate his studies and 
research to different topics. He obtained his Ph.D. in 
Philosophy in 1870, the diploma in Math in 1872 and 

Fig. 9 - Photo of Romolo Meli (from https://www.socgeol.it/
N2642/romoli-meli-roma-23-aprile-1852-1-gennaio-1921.html).  



   

 

the diploma as a civil engineer and architect at Sapien-
za, University of Rome in 1874. However, Meli soon 
abandoned these subjects to devote himself to geology, 
first as assistant in 1875, and later obtaining a free lec-
turer in geology in 1881. He taught mineralogy and ge-
ology at the Istituto Tecnico Leonardo da Vinci 
(Leonardo da Vinci technical institute) in Rome since 
1883, mineralogy and applied geology at the Reale 
Scuola d’applicazione degli ingegneri di Roma (Royal 
School of Application of Engineers in Rome) since 
1885, getting earlier a permanent professor role in 1904 
and later full professor position in 1912 (Argentieri, 
2009; Fig. 10). At the same time, he continued teaching 
mineralogy and geology in the technical institute. 

As aforementioned, at the death of his master 
Ponzi, Meli succeeded as director of the Geology Cabi-
net and interim director of the Geological and Paleonto-
logical Museum of the Sapienza, University of Rome, 
positions he held until 1888. 

Among the several public roles covered by Meli 
during his life, it worth mentioned his position as a 
member of the Consiglio Sanitario Provinciale di Roma 
(Provincial Health Council of Rome) (1890-1901 and 
1907-20) and member of the Regio Comitato Geologico 
(Royal Geological Committee) (1918) (Argentieri, 2009). 
In addition to be a founding member of the Società Ge-
ologica Italiana (Italian Geological Society), Meli invest-
ed so many effort in the Society, where he held the 
roles of archivist (1882-1883, 1887-1889, 1893-1899), 
secretary (1884-1886, 1890-1892), councillor (1900-
1902), vice president (1903) and president (1904). He 
was also an active member of the Società Geografica 
Reale (Royal Geographic Society) and of the Società 
italiana di storia critica delle scienze mediche e naturali 
(Italian Society for the critical history of medical and 
natural sciences), whereby was also vice president; 
Meli had also an important role for the Società Romana 
per gli Studi Zoologici (Roman Society for Zoological 
Studies, afterwards Italian Zoological Society), first tak-
ing part in the foundation, later holding the position of 

councillor and vice-president from 1896. 
The interest of Meli embraced a well-diversified 

aspects of natural sciences, with topics ranging from 
fossil and living malacology and vertebrate, geology, 
stratigraphy, petrography, mineralogy, study of meteor-
ites, as well as in the archaeological, philological and 
historical-bibliographic fields (Argentieri, 2009). Despite 
the multidisciplinary approach and the wide range of 
topics covered, what makes Meli worthy of mention for 
the present contribution are his works focused on the 
geological, paleontological and stratigraphic analysis of 
Quaternary deposits of Latium region, with particular 
regard to the Campagna Romana. 

One of the main contribution was the work on the 
exceptional discovery of the remains of a fossil vulture 
in the vulcanites of the Tuscolani mountains, with the 
contribution published in 1889 with the title “Sopra i 
resti fossili di un grande avvoltoio (Gyps) racchiuso nei 
peperini laziali” (On the fossil remains of a large vulture 
(Gyps) enclosed in the peperini laziali) (Manni et al., 
2003; Iurino et al., 2014). Between 1881 and 1918, Meli 
conducted numerous studies on the vertebrates of 
Campagna Romana, with a vast production on the re-
mains of elephants, hippos, bovids, rhinos, equids, 
cervids, suidae, canids, bears, hyenas, birds, from out-
crops on the Via Flaminia (Cava Bertazzi, Melafumo, 
right bank of the Tiber), Aventino (Rome), Villa Pamphilj 
(Rome), Church of S. Silvestro (via del Quirinale, Ro-

 

 
The quaternary paleontological research in the Campagna Romana (Central Italy) at the 19th-20th century transition: historical overview 

 

 

117 

Fig. 10 - Field trip conducted by Romolo Meli on May 17, 1908 
on the beach of Nettuno, with the engineering students of the 
Royal Application School of Rome (Courtesy of ISPRA Library). 
See also Meli R. (1896).  

Fig. 11 - Photo of Enrico Clèrici (from Neviani, 1938).  



   

 

ma), ex-Convent of San Pietro in Vincoli (Rome), foun-
dations of the National Bank Building (‘marne d’acqua 
dolce del Quirinale’, Rome), Sedia del Diavolo (via No-
mentana), Monte Mario, Tor Di Quinto, Magliana (right 
bank of the Tiber; via Portuense; Campo di Merlo; Mon-
te delle Piche), Via della Pisana (contrada Bravetta, 
Rome), Batteria Nomentana (left bank of the Aniene), 
Mostacciano (far out of Porta San Paolo), Ponte Buttero 
(via Laurentina, Roma), Frascati (via Anagnina), Anzio, 
Nettuno (coast of Foglino), Amaseno valley (Piperno, 
Pontini Mountains), Cava della Catena (S. Angelo, Ter-
racina), Vallinfreda (Turano basin), Gallese (Orte), S. 
Quirico (Sugano, Orvieto) (Meli, 1881a, 1881b, 1882, 
1886, 1889a, 1889b, 1891a, 1891b, 1894a, 1894b, 
1895, 1897, 1908, 1918). 

 
2.5. Enrico Clèrici (1862-1938)  

Enrico Clèrici (Fig. 11) studied engineering and 
graduated at Sapienza, University of Rome in 1888. In 
1892 he earned the bachelor degree in Natural Scienc-
es at Sapienza, University of Rome. Engineering and 
geology were in fact the disciplines that involved him 
during his entire life. The engineering represented his 
stable work between 1885 and 1915, teaching electro-
technics in the evening school ‘Galileo Ferraris’ for the 
artillery of the Rome Municipality. His first teaching in 
Mineralogy and Geology was at the school of the exper-
imental agricultural institute of Perugia between 1896 
and 1899. He obtained the title of geology professor in 
1902 at Sapienza, University of Rome, holding the chair 
in Geology in the same University between 1928 and 
1934. In addition to teaching, Clèrici worked in the Agri-
culture, Industry and Trade Ministry, becoming general 
director in 1930. 

Clèrici has also held other positions including: 
meritorious member (‘socio benemerito’) and secretary 
of the Società Geologica Italiana (Italian Geological 
Society) for twenty-three years; member of the Regio 
Comitato Geologico (Royal Geological Committee); 
corresponding member of the Pontificia accademia 
delle scienze (Pontifical Academy of Sciences); mem-
ber of the Pontificia Accademia Tiberina (Pontifical Ti-
berine Academy) of which he was councillor; member of 
the Comitato nazionale geodetico e geofisico (National 
Geodetic-Geophysical Committee) and representative 
for Italy at the international conference in Bern for the 
protection of intellectual property (for a more complete 
biography see Fornaseri, 1982). 

In his more than 170 publications, Clèrici treated 
and discussed several geological, paleontological and 
mineralogical aspects. A common thread of his re-
searches was the rigorous mathematical and physical 
approach, combining both empirical laboratory experi-
ences and direct observations in the field. For Clèrici, 
practical work, both in laboratory and in the field, repre-
sented a crucial moment for teaching and to transfer to 
students his passion and devotion to geology and pal-
aeontology. Worthy of note is the invention of the so-
called ‘soluzione di Clèrici’ (Clèrici's solution) or ‘Liquido 
pesante di Clèrici’ (Heavy liquid of Clèrici), a mixture in 
water of thallium formate and thallium malonate useful 
for the separation of minerals and presented on the 

 

 

118 

 

 
Romano M. et al. 

Rendiconti della Regia Accademia dei Lincei in 1907 
with the contribution titled “Preparazione di liquidi per la 
separazione dei minerali” (Preparation of liquids for the 
separation of minerals) (Clèrici, 1907). Thanks to this 
research, Clèrici became famous around the world, and 
received a Diploma of Honor from the International Con-
gress of Limnology held in Rome in 1929. 

Much of the research work in geology was con-
ducted by Clèrici on the analysis of the geological struc-
ture of the Quaternary deposits in the Campagna 
Romana and in Campania. Neviani (1938) reports that 
Clèrici knew the Latium region ‘point by point’, thanks to 
the innumerable field trips conducted as soon as he had 
the opportunity, riding his inseparable bicycle “che gli 
permetteva raggiungere lontane località in tempo rela-
tivamente breve; e più ancora di penetrare in luoghi di 
non facile accesso ad altri veicoli, e nel contempo tra-
sportare notevole quantità di piccolo campioni” (“which 
allowed him to reach distant locations in a relatively 
short time, and even more to penetrate places that are 
not easily accessible to other vehicles, and at the same 
time carrying significant quantities of small specimens”; 
Neviani, 1938, p. 125). 

His study deeply contributed to the knowledge of 
fossil diatoms, describing several species for the first 
time (Clèrici, 1893, 1894a, 1895a, 1895b, 1896) and 
mapping the deposits of the Campagna Romana pre-
serving this kind of fossils (“Carta dei giacimenti di-
atomiferi dei dintorni di Roma”(Map of the diatoma-
ceous deposits around Rome) published in 1935 on the 
Bollettino della Società Geologica Italiana (Bulletin of 
the Italian Geological Society). 

One of the principal work conducted by Clèrici was 
published in 1888 in the Bollettino della Società Geolog-
ica Italiana (Bulletin of the Italian Geological Society), 
entitled “Sulla Corbicula fluminalis dei dintorni di Roma 
e sui fossili che l’accompagnano” (On the Corbicula 
fluminalis around Rome and on the associated fossils). 
Here, he described the stratigraphical successions of 
Acquatraversa, Sedia del Diavolo and Monte Verde, 
(outcrops today destroyed by the urbanization), and the 
specimens directly collected, as well as those from the 
University Geological Institute collections and private 
collection of Romolo Meli (Neviani, 1938). In a later 
work published in 1891, focused on the description of 
the Castor fiber and Elephas meridionalis, Clèrici went 
back to what he had reported about the Corbicula flumi-
nalis. In the text the author deepens and clarifies the 
relationships between the fossil fauna and the for-
mations referred to him to ‘the glacial period’, in re-
sponse, always with polite tones, to the critical observa-
tions and points raised on the topic by Tuccimei. 

His contribution to the study of Quaternary of Lati-
um was not limited to diatoms, flora and malacofauna; 
he published many works on Plio-Pleistocene verte-
brate remains of Campagna Romana and central Italy, 
with contributions on elephants, mastodons, rhinos, 
tapirs, hippos, bears, felines, hares and equids (Clèrici, 
1887a, 1887b, 1888, 1891, 1892, 1894b, 1894c, 1894d, 
1895c, 1906, 1926, 1931). The multidisciplinary ap-
proach was a key aspect in the Clèrici’s research, that 
pushed him to analyse the fossil not as an mere object 



   

 

but as a pawn of a broader paleoenvironmental context. 
 

2.6. Alessandro Portis (1853-1931)  
Alessandro Portis (Fig. 12), after his classical stud-

ies, graduated in natural sciences in 1875 at the Univer-
sity of Turin. After graduating, he spend a period abroad 
with the aim of deepening some palaeontological and 
geological aspects and topics. During this period Portis 
was first at Göttingen, and then he move to Munich, 
Basel and Paris, coming back In Italy when he got the 
position of free lecturer in palaeontology at the Universi-
ty of Turin starting in 1879. 

In 1881, he was temporarily assumed as “Museum 
staff” of the University of Bologna, where he realized the 
first edition of the Bibliographie géologique et paléon-
tologique de l’Italie and the Guide aux collections de 
l’Institut de géologie et de paléontologie à Bologne un-
der the direction of Giovanni Cappellini and in collabora-
tion with Carlo Fornasini (Pantaloni, 2016). 

An important aspect of Portis’s work is represented 
by his activity as a surveyor geologist started in 1881 
with several stratigraphical contribution on Argentera, 
Mount Tabor (Piedmont), Maritime Alps and the prov-
ince of Turin (for a more exhaustive list of production for 
those years see, Pantaloni, 2016). 

For three years (1884-1886) Portis was the curator 
at the Geology Museum of Turin, a period during which 
he continued his study on vertebrate palaeontology. 
Papers worthy of note are his contribution on fossil am-
phibians (Portis, 1885), and the “Catalogo descrittivo 

dei Talassoterii rinvenuti nei terreni terziari del Piemon-
te e della Liguria” (Descriptive catalogue of the Thalas-
soterii found in the tertiary terrains of Piedmont and 
Liguria). The latter can still be considered a reference 
text as a basis for classification for this fossil group 
(Pantaloni, 2016). The central and innovative work on 
chelones and Thalassotherii earned Portis a prize from 
the Turin Academy of Sciences in 1885. 

In 1886 Portis obtained the chair of geology and 
mineralogy of the Scuola degli Ingegneri di Roma 
(School of engineers of Rome), but the turning point in 
his career arrived in 1888, when on the death of Ponzi, 
he was called to cover the chair of Geology and Palae-
ontology of the Institute of Geology of Sapienza, Univer-
sity of Rome, position held until 1927. 

Portis is considered one of the founding members 
of the Società Geologica Italiana (Italian Geological 
Society), since he attended the II International Geologi-
cal Congress of Bologna in 1881, participating in the 
founding session of the Society, of which he was then 
president in 1908. The recognition of scientific skills in 
the international field is demonstrated by the fact that he 
was appointed a member of the Deutscher Geolo-
gischer Gesellschaft (German Geological Society), of 
the Societé géologique de Belgique (Geological Society 
of Belgium) and of the Societé Royale des Sciences of 
Liegi (Royal Society of Sciences of Liège). Among the 
youth awards for his research is worthy of mention the 
award with gold medal from the George III foundation in 
Hanover, for the contribution on fossil batrachians from 
the Kimmeridgian of Hannover, studied by Portis during 
his stay at the Geo-Paleontology Institute of Göttingen, 
and a special grant for the printing and publication of 
the same work from the Prussian Ministry of Cult 
(Martelli et al., 1932). 

Portis had an important role for the Palaeontology 
Museum of Sapienza, University of Rome, enriching 
conspicuously both the collections (especially the pale-
ontological ones) and the institute's library, one of the 
richest at the time on paleontological topics. Portis can 
be considered the founder of a real Roman school of 
geologists-palaeontologists which saw, among its most 
brilliant disciples, Tellini, De Angelis d’Ossat, Checchia-
Rispoli and Cerulli-Irelli (Martelli et al., 1932). 

Portis devoted himself largely to the study of the 
Quaternary deposits of the Campagna Romana, in par-
ticular catalysed by numerous remains of fossil verte-
brates that were found in the area (Figs. 13, 14). Over 
the years Portis wrote and published numerous works 
on the subject, dealing with Quaternary fossil remains in 
numerous groups, including birds, elephants, rhinos, 
felines, hippos, bovids, canids and the contemporaneity 
between Palaeolithic human and some vertebrate fau-
nas (Portis, 1896a, 1896b, 1896c, 1899, 1902, 1903, 
1904, 1907a, 1907b, 1907c, 1909, 1920). 

The geo-paleontological works and the intense 
studies on the Campagna Romana then converged in a 
voluminous work entitled “Contribuzioni alla Storia fisica 
del Bacino di Roma” (Contributions to the Physical His-
tory of the Rome Basin), a monograph consisting of 
several articles on both sedimentary and volcanic de-
posits, and several studies on the abundant Quaternary 

Fig. 12 - Photo of Alessandro Portis (from https://www. geoital-
iani.it/2016/12/portis2.html). 

 

 
The quaternary paleontological research in the Campagna Romana (Central Italy) at the 19th-20th century transition: historical overview 

 

 

119 



   

 

vertebrate fauna of the Roman province (Portis, 1893, 
1896a). 

Still in the field of the Quaternary vertebrates, in 
1894 Portis describes the remains of a mostly complete 
elephant skeleton found on the slopes of Monte Pisciato 
near Riofreddo (Portis, 1896b; Fig. 15), accidentally 
found during the ploughing of a field (Fabbi & Romano, 
2020). The fossil deposits in this case refer to the inter-
mountain basin of Oricola-Carsoli, some 40 km east of 
Rome, a depression of tectonic origin within the hydro-
graphic basin of the Turano river (sub-tributary of the 
Tiber) and about 40 km2 wide (Fabbi & Romano, 2020). 

 

 

120 

 

 
Romano M. et al. 

During the Early-Middle Pleistocene the area was large-
ly represented by a vast lacustrine environment, with 
deposition of the unit “limi, argille e sabbie del Bosco di 
Oricola” (silts, clays and sands of the Oricola Wood), 
with a thickness of over 200 m which represents the 
main filling of the basin (D’Orefice et al., 2010, 2014). At 
first Portis, relying on the preserved molars, referred the 
material to the species Elephas meridionalis, however 
he was not fully convinced and satisfied with the attribu-
tion; in fact, as Portis (1896a) writes the atlas vertebra 
and the calcaneus were very reminiscent of those of the 
species Elephas antiquus, whereas the fibula was more 

Fig. 13 - Fossil carnivores from the tuffaceous deposits of Rome, described and figured by Portis in his contribution published in 1907 (Portis, 1907b). 

Fig. 14 - Original label and rhinoceros tooth found at Ponte Molle (Rome) from the collection of Alessandro Portis preserved at MUST, 
University of Rome.  



   

 

similar to the one characterizing E. meridionalis. The 
specimen was subsequently studied by De Angelis 
d'Ossat (1956) which referred it to Elephas antiquus, a 
species that appears in Italy in the Middle Pleistocene 
(Palombo & Ferretti, 2005), an age compatible with the 
Oricola deposits. In addition to the elephant remains, 
Portis (1896a) also analysed the remains of rhinoceros, 
hippopotamus and a carnivoran coprolite from the same 
stratigraphic unit and from the same area. The study of 
the remains allowed Portis to reconstruct a marshy en-
vironment of the ‘Late Pliocene’, characterized by the 
abundant presence of fossil mammal remains. As al-
ready mentioned, the deposits that returned the fossils 
today are referred to the Early-Middle Pleistocene, and 
a revision of the material allowed to attribute the fossil 
remains described by Portis to the species  Palaeoloxo-
don antiquus, Hippopotamus cf. antiquus, Stephanorhi-
nus etruscus and Pachycrocuta brevirostris (Fabbi & 
Romano, 2020). 

 
2.7. First decades of 20th century  

After the period between the end of the nineteenth 
century and the twenties of the twentieth century, with 
the major contribution by Ponzi, Meli, Clèrici and Portis, 
the decades up to the sixties were characterized by a 
smaller number of works dedicated to Quaternary verte-
brates of the Campagna Romana. According to 
Kostakis & Barisone (2008) this fact would be mainly 
due to a decrease of scholars who devoted themselves 

to vertebrate palaeontology throughout Italy (see also 
Kotsakis, 2005). Nevertheless, it must be taken into 
account the negative influence of First World War dur-
ing the twenties of XX, followed by a period of political 
instability, which in Italy continued until the advent of 
fascism. Talking about a deep crisis of the Roman geo-
logical and paleontological school, Praturlon (1993) 
states: “Siamo così entrati nel ‘900, tra un fiorire di stu-
diosi che ampliano velocemente il quadro delle cono-
scenze geologiche sull’area laziale. Il vento gelido della 
Grande Guerra farà purtroppo inaridire ben presto 
questo rigoglioso giardino” (We thus entered the 1900s, 
among a flourishing of scholars who rapidly broaden the 
framework of geological knowledge on the Lazio area. 
The icy wind of the Great War will unfortunately soon 
dry up this luxuriant garden). 

Although this period is not the subject of the pre-
sent contribution, we can only briefly mention that con-
cerning the study of vertebrate fauna, the period 
through the Second World War was characterized by 
the work of three central authors: Gioacchino De Ange-
lis d’Ossat (1865-1957), Gian Alberto Blanc (1879-
1966) and his son, Alberto Carlo Blanc (1906-1960). In 
particular, a more detailed and updated framework will 
be depicted only in the 1950s by Alberto Carlo Blanc, 
who developed the glacial-interglacial scheme by Penck 
and Bruckner (1909), and correlate it to the geological 
succession of the Campagna Romana with the identifi-
cation of glacial erosional phases and depositional inter-

 

 
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121 

Fig. 15 - Drawing of the discovery conditions of the elephant from Riofreddo (modified from Portis, 1896a).  



   

 

glacials (Blanc, 1938, 1939, 1946, 1948, 1955, 1957, 
1958; Blanc et al,. 1951; 1955a, 1955b).  

 
3. CRITICAL DISCUSSION OF THE GEO-
PALEONTOLOGICAL ROMAN SCHOOL  
 

The end of the 19th century represented the begin-
ning of a revolution for the Earth Sciences, with expo-
nential growth of the studies and personalities devoted 
to these disciplines. During this period, Italy was affect-
ed by deep change, above all, the unification took place 
in March, 17 1861. Nevertheless, the complete unifica-
tion of the Italian territory was reached during 1871, 
when Rome was nominated capital of the Reign. In fact, 
when the popular insurrection started, Napoleon III sent 
the French imperial troops in Rome in support to the 
Papal States; troops that occupied the city up to 1870 
when the France lost the war against the Prussian. At 
that time, the city of Rome was defenceless, and there-
fore it was earlier conquered. What makes the French 
occupation crucial for geology and palaeontology stud-
ies was the presence of several French naturalists in 
Rome, among which we must mentioned Frère Indes. 
His contribute was really important for the development 
of the Natural research, in particular considering that 
the first paleontological excavation in a cave at the top 
of Monte delle Gioie, close to Ponte Salario, was de-
signed and conducted exactly by Indes (Indes, 1872; 
Kotsakis & Barisone, 2008). 

Unfortunately, Indes left Rome when French 
troops were recalled by Napoleon III, with no time to 
organize the transport of his collections. In view of this 
fact, it is quite impossible to quantify the exact extent of 
the Frère Indes’ collection; part of this historical material 
(more than 3000 specimen) is now kept in the school of 
San Giuseppe De Merode (Cerilli, 2014). 

Afterwards the unification of Italy, the Geology 
underwent a massive leap forward, when the chair in 
Geology was instituted and the Geology Museum at the 
Sapienza, University of Rome was founded. Initially, this 
museum was located in the Sant’Ivo locals, nearest to 
Navona Square (Rome). Although several paleontologi-
cal, geological and mineralogical private collections 
converged in the Geology Museum of Sapienza, several 
fossils were located in scientific Cabinet of Roman high 
schools, similarly to what happened for the Frère Indes’ 
collections. The presence of Natural collections in the 
high School of Rome had a double valence: first they 
play an important scientific function for teaching purpos-
es and second in representing a repository to keep to-
gether specimens of the same collection. This situation 
went on for decades until the institution of the chair in 
Palaeontology and the foundation of the Palaeontology 
Museum of Sapienza, University of Rome in 1928. It is 
worth mentioning that the Città Universitaria (University 
City), an institution that even today hosts the most of 
the Sapienza Departments, was built during 1930s and 
inaugurated in 1935. Henceforth, the paleontological 
collections previously housed in the Geology Museum 
located at Sant’Ivo were moved in the Sapienza Muse-
um, which became the principal institution where fossils 
from Campagna Romana were stored. 

 

 

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Romano M. et al. 

The myriad of remains recovered during the end of 
1800 and the first half of 1900, in addition to their great 
historical value, played a key role in the reconstruction 
of the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems during the late 
Early to late Middle Pleistocene. Is not merely the great 
abundance of collected fossil remains, but also the 
completeness and significance of these materials, often 
represented by nearly complete crania, with tusks in the 
cases of Elephantidae, horn corns for Bovidae or ant-
lers for Cervidae, along with nearly complete skeletons 
found in anatomical connection (Palombo, 2004; Ko-
tsakis & Barisone, 2007). 

The first biochronological scheme based on large 
mammals was proposed by Blanc (1957), which recog-
nized five glacial episodes: Acquatraversa, Cassia, 
Flaminia, Nomentana and Pontina: scheme, slightly 
modified by Ambrosetti & Bonadona (1967), that repre-
sented the basis for the paleontological study on mam-
mals from Campagna Romana for decades (Kotsakis & 
Barisone, 2007). In the framework of the biochronologi-
cal scheme of the Italian terrestrial large mammals, the 
Campagna Romana area assumes a great scientific 
interest, as testified by the names of two Mammal Ages 
(Galerian and Aurelian), by local fauna selected to insti-
tuted two faunal units (Ponte Galeria and Torre in 
Pietra), and by several local faunal complexes who 
have shed light on the terrestrial ecosystem evolution 
from the late Early Pleistocene to late Middle Pleisto-
cene (e.g., Ambrosetti et al., 1972; Gliozzi et al., 1997; 
Di Stefano et al., 1998; Petronio & Sardella, 1998, 
1999; Palombo, 2004; Kotsakis & Barisone, 2007; Mar-
ra et al., 2014; Sardella et al., 2015; Marra et al., 2018). 

The majority of fossils recovered during the end of 
1800s and the early 1900s were accidentally recovered 
often during quarry activities, lacking a clear stratigraph-
ical context and providing scarce chronological con-
strains (Palombo, 2004). Systematic palaeontological 
and archaeological excavations became widespread 
during the 1910s, adopted for the first time by Blanc in 
the study of Grotta Romanelli (Sardella et al., 2018, 
2019). Therefore, the lack of exact stratigraphical data 
is not surprising, and explain why the labels that accom-
panied these fossils (when present) reported only the 
bearing geological unit. Another limit of the time that 
must be stressed is the lack of technological tools, 
above all camera and total station. In addition, during 
the systematic excavation many data were recorded on 
excavation diary, whereas during the geo-
paleontological surveys data were reported on field 
book. Likewise, this documentation was rarely pre-
served, among which is worth mentioning the historical 
dossiers preserved at the Istituto Italiano di Paleontolo-
gia Umana (Italian Institute of Human Paleontology) and 
Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria (Italian Insti-
tute of Prehistory and Protohistory). A final issue is rep-
resented by the exchange of correspondence, often 
used to communicate the latest research or discovery 
among involved scholars, but also to express a different 
viewpoint on some crucial aspects; these letters have 
been cited in several contributions in the literature, but 
the original documentation is often unaffordable. 

An important point is how to approach this lack or 



   

 

patchy documentation about the exact geographical and 
stratigraphical data. The Rome basin has been deeply 
studied from a geological, mineralogical and sedimento-
logical perspectives and, as a result, the evolution of the 
Paleo-Tiber river is today well-know and constrained 
(e.g., Ambrosetti, 1967; Conato et al., 1980; Milli et al., 
2004; Marra et al., 2014). By assembling the data re-
ported in the historical works, the label information re-
ported on fossils and updated geological maps, general-
ly it is possible to obtain at least the macro geological 
unit. Thanks to the several scientific contributions on the 
Campagna Romana area, these units are well-
chronologically constrained trough radiometric dating or 
strong stratigraphical correlations, especially based on 
the volcanoclastic materials produced by the Sabatini or 
Colli Albani Volcanic Districts (Conato et al., 1980; Milli, 
1997; Giordano et al., 2003; Funiciello & Giordano, 
2008; Marra et al., 2014; Marra et al., 2018). Despite 
these data are based on indirect sources and correla-
tions, they represent the most commonly used method 
to geologically contextualize the historical collections. 
Finally, these specimens occasionally preserved sedi-
ments as patina which could cover the remain or, alter-
natively, as sediments that fill the natural empty or bro-
ken portion of fossils. The analysis of these associated 
sediments was used, for example, in the study of the 
partial cranium of Stephanorhinus hemitoechus where 
the only information reported on the label is simply 
‘Campagna Romana’; in this case the geochemical 
analysis of the associated pumice revealed an age ap-
proximately to 0.5 Ma (Pandolfi et al., 2013). 

As already stressed, a systematic approach for 
paleontological excavations was firstly applied during 
the 1910s, but it became common only during the sec-
ond part of the 20th century. Among the personalities of 
that time, a prominent scientist was Gian Alberto Blanc. 
Student of Portis, G.A. Blanc further developed the ap-
proach of his master, which combined the geological, 
stratigraphical and paleontological data on his works. 
G.A. Blanc added a great innovation to the paleontologi-
cal research, i.e. the stratigraphical data for each fossil 
found during the excavation (generally reported on re-
mains). This method was immediately followed by ar-
chaeologists, but in palaeontology became commonly 
followed only from the beginning of the 1980. 

Finally, last but not least, a consideration is need-
ed about the role of women in the Roman scientific 
community in the considered historical period. This can 
be related to the socio-political  condition that character-
ised Italy, and Rome in particular. Such a topic de-
serves a more accurate and specific research to be 
published in the next future. Definitely, until 1940s the 
study of Quaternary in the Campagna Romana seems 
to be a men’s job. Cesarina Cortesi was the first woman 
who got a degree in Geological Sciences at Sapienza in 
1938-39 (Lombardi, 2015). In 1941 he wrote an article 
with G.A. Blanc about geochemical interpretation of the 
Quaternary deposits of Grotta Romanelli (Blanc & Cor-
tesi, 1941). Cortesi worked for decades at Sapienza 
University. In the 1940s Angiola Maria Maccagno (1912
-1991) started her geo-paleontological career at Sapien-
za university first, and then at Naples university. The 

Quaternary of the Rome area was investigated since 
1950s by Maria Follieri (1932-2012), who started ad-
vanced paleobotanical studies and gave rise to a scien-
tific school still active today. The role of these scientists 
need to be properly studied and presented. 

 
4. CONCLUDING REMARKS  
 

The intense urbanisation which affected the city of 
Rome during the end of 1800 and the beginning of 1900 
led the discovery of a myriad of vertebrate fossils. Most 
of these historical collections are today preserved in the 
MUST of Sapienza, University of Rome. Other fossils 
were kept in the scientific cabinets of several high 
school of the city of Rome or Latium villages. These rich 
fossil samples, mainly referred to Middle Pleistocene, 
played a key role for the study of the evolution large 
mammal faunal and terrestrial ecosystem as well as for 
the reconstruction of the evolutionary trend of the Pal-
aeolithic human in Italian Peninsula. If on the one hand 
large part of these fossil collections lacks of both exact 
geographical and stratigraphical data, on the other, they 
represent a historical heritage which need to be pre-
served and promoted. This paleontological material was 
collected by a number of scientists, among which the 
most important were Ponzi, Tuccimei, Portis, Clèrici and 
Meli. Thanks to their meticulous work, the majority of 
the specimens are supplemented by a label, where data 
on collection year, author, approximate locality and 
preliminary description of the level in which fossils were 
collected, as well as the first taxonomical attribution. A 
comprehensive revision of fossil collections and 
chronostratigraphic data is needed to resume the atten-
tion of the Campagna Romana as laboratory for the 
study evolution of terrestrial ecosystems in the Mediter-
ranean area. In this project will be crucial to realize a 
database in which to include all fossil materials dis-
persed in the high schools and museums. This data-
base can be compared with the data reported in the 
paleontological literature, therefore allowing to under-
stand how many fossils were lost for science over time 
and how many can be recovered for new reviews and 
future studies. 

 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

We are grateful to Linda Riti and Michele Macri for 
the help and support during the study of the fossil col-
lection of MUST (Museo Universitario di Scienze della 
Terra), Sapienza, University of Rome. Fabiana Console 
is warmly thanked for providing original iconographic 
material form the ISPRA Library. Finally, we wish to 
thank the Editor, Ilaria Mazzini, and two referees, one 
anonymous and Marco Mancini, for comments and sug-
gestions that greatly improved the manuscript. 

 
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Ms. received: January  20, 2020 Revised: March  10, 2021 
Accepted: March 16, 2021     Avaiable online: March 26, 2021 

 

 
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