Domenico Nocca
Domenico Nocca was an Italian abbot and botanist.
Life and career
He was director of the botanical garden of Mantua until 1797. He was prefect of the botanical garden of the University of Pavia, as a temporary substitute in 1778 and as a full-time professor from 1797 to 1826. During Nocca's tenure, the garden grew to cultivate approximately 20,000 plant species. He established a dense network of seed and plant exchanges with other botanists of the time, significantly enriching the collections. He also decided to renovate several greenhouses installed by his predecessor, Giovanni Antonio Scopoli. He also increased the number of structures for growing plants using "pulvilli", which are still present in the garden today.In 1802, he was appointed to the chair of the Department of Botany, newly established following the Napoleonic reorganization of teaching.
Having decided to survey the flora of the city of Pavia, he enlisted the help of Giovanni Battista Balbis to help him with the classification. The result of their joint work was published, under the title Flora Ticinensis, in two volumes, one in 1816 and the other in 1821.