Federico Sacco


Federico Sacco was an Italian geologist, paleontologist and mycologist.

Biography

He was the son of Giuseppe Antonio, a doctor, and Faustina Maria Quaglia. After his secondary studies in Fossano, Federico Sacco graduated in 1884 in natural sciences at the University of Turin; he was a disciple of Martino Baretti, collaborator and friend of Quintino Sella and Luigi Bellardi, a renowned Piedmontese paleontologist.
For over thirty years, from 1897 to 1935, he held the chair of geology at the Polytechnic University of Turin and, for over forty years, that of paleontology at the University of Turin. He was a member of the Accademia dei Lincei, a member of the Academy of Sciences of Turin and president of the Italian Geological Society. A passionate mountaineer and speleologist, he was an active member of the Italian Alpine Club for most of his life.
He was one of the founders in 1911–12 of the Urania Society, created as the result of a split from the Italian Astronomical Society, for which he directed the publication of Saggi di astronomia popolare, a series of popular texts.
He was the author of over six hundred publications, including volumes, memoirs and articles, of a geomorphological and stratigraphic nature. He made a significant contribution to the Geological Map of Italy, studying and compiling, among others, the geological sheets of the tertiary basin of Piedmont, Abruzzo, Cuneo, Ceva and Genoa, Bologna, Imola–Faenza–Forlì and Rimini, of Ancona–Jesi–Fermo and Macerata, Pesaro, Monte Falterona, Pontremoli.
Two of his most important works are: "Il bacino terziario e quaternario del Piemonte", complete with all geomorphological, stratigraphic and paleontological indications. And the multi-volume set "I molluschi dei terreni terziari del Piemonte e della Liguria", his largest work in terms of size and concreteness: completed in 1904, it is divided into 30 volumes and represents thousands of fossil species. The amount of his research and publications by him has no equal in the sectors he studied. He analyzed about 40,000 square kilometers of land and walked a distance equal to the length of the Equator line. Some of his geographical maps, which mainly represent the Alps and the Apennines, are present in the Archive of the Regional Science Museum of Turin.
As far as glaciation is concerned, he researched materials and carried out studies relating, in particular, to various locations in the Apennines and the Alps, with particular reference to Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa, the Matterhorn, Gran Paradiso, Monviso and the Maritime Alps. Appropriate publications he also dedicated to the moraines of the Veneto, Lake Maggiore, Ivrea and Rivoli. He also did research on hydrography, speleology, seismology and cosmology. He also dedicated biographies to illustrious scientists, including Carlo Fabrizio Parona and Giuseppe Mercalli.

Recognition

Above the door of Federico Sacco's house in Fossano, affixed to the wall, there is a plaque commemorating the tenth anniversary of the scholar's death which shows an incorrect date of death and place: Turin, 14 October 1948.
In Fossano there is a school that has been dedicated to the scientist since 2019: the "Istituto Comprensivo Federico Sacco".

Principal works

  • I molluschi dei terreni terziari del Piemonte e della Liguria,, 30 vols., partly also with Luigi Bellardi, Clausen, Turin 1872–1904.
  • L'anfiteatro morenico di Rivoli, Lit. Doyen, Torino 1886.
  • Sulla Costituzione geologica degli altipiani isolati di Fossano, Salmour e Banale, Tip. Camilla e Bertolero, Torino 1887.
  • Geologia applicata del bacino terziario e quaternario del Piemonte, Tip. Nazionale, Roma 1890.
  • L'Appennino settentrionale. Studio geologico, Tip. R. Accademia dei Lincei, Roma 1892.
  • L'Appennino dell'Emilia. Studio geologico sommario, Tip. R. Accademia dei Lincei, Roma 1893.
  • L'Appennino della Romagna. Studio geologico sommario, Tip. R. Accademia dei Lincei, Roma 1899.
  • Gli anfiteatri morenici del Veneto. Studio geologico, Tip. e Lit. Bertolero, Torino 1899
  • L'Appennino settentrionale e centrale. Studio geologico sintetico, Gerbone, Torino 1904.
  • Geologia applicata dello Appennino settentrionale e centrale, Tip. Camilla e Bertolero, Torino 1904.
  • L'Appennino meridionale. Studio geologico sintetico, Tip. Cuggiani, Roma 1910.
  • L'evolution biologique et humaine. Essai synthetique et considerations, Utet-Beranger, Torino-Parigi 1910.
  • Geoidrologia dei pozzi profondi della Valle Padana, 3 voll., Bona, Torino 1912–1933.
  • Universo. Saggio di sintesi cosmica, Lattese & C., Torino 1916.
  • Formazione dei serbatoi Montani. Considerazioni meteorologiche e geoidrologiche, Borzoni e C., Torino 1918.
  • La sistemazione idrico-forestale dei bacini montani, Tip. Nistri, Pisa 1918
  • L'Istria. Cenni geologici generali, Soc. tip. Monregalese, Mondovì 1924.
  • Origini ed evoluzione della vita, Ulrico Hoepli, Milano 1937.
  • Come si e formata la faccia della Terra, Tip. Checchini, Torino 1941.