Early Italian Botanists in the Tropics and the Fate of Classical Collections

Classical botanical collections, made before 1940, have been at the basis of the origin and development of plant taxonomy, and still represent essential reference material for future progress in botany. Large parts of these collections are still poorly known and studied. The importance of historical collections for progress in taxonomy and for a comparison between past and present biodiversity is here highlighted, including their potentialities at a global scale (e.g. the study of degradation and loss of habitats, and indirectly, the climate change in the Anthropocene era) as well as the opportunity to promote and facilitate their study by means of online networks of herbaria. Giuseppe Raddi (1770–1829), Antonio Bertoloni (1775–1869), Carlo Giuseppe Bertero (1789–1831), Luigi Sodiro (1836–1909) and Odoardo Beccari (1843–1920) are examples of eminent early Italian contributors to the historical botanical exploration of the Palaeo- and Neotropics