BIO

Dissertation: N/A

Highest degree: university

Fields of interest:

• medicine
• botany
• antiquities

Biography:
Belli was an Italian physician and botanist. Born in Venice, Belli came from a family of architects and medicine who were interested [check] in collecting. He studied in Padua, laureate medicine in 1570s, and had lifelong connections with the Palladio and Pinelli circles, Guilandino, and Giacomo Antonio Cortuso. He worked as a physician in Venice before moving to Crete in 1583 to work as physician in the service of the Venetian "Provveditore generale" (a kind of regional administrator) of Crete. Both men were interested in antiquities and naturalia. Belli remained in Crete after his patron left and served as city physician (c. 1595-99) in Crete of Canea (= Chania). He was learned and knew all the classical authors. He investigated antiquities and botany. His main interest was in Cretan flora, and he had planed a theoretical work / survey together with his field-work with his colleague Silverio Todeschini from Fondi, who also lived in Canea. It was never published, but his knowledge on this topic has been communicated through works by Clusius, Prosper Alpino, and Giovanni Pona. Belli did finish a work on Cretan antiquities, but it has been lost.

He married Bianca Saraceno who died on Crete in 1597. He remarried after his return in Venice (Laura) and had three children. After his return to Venice, he probably worked again as a physician. He had many contacts with botanists in Italy, Switzerland, and Germany including Camerarius, Zwinger, Bauhins, Clusius.

Belli was quoted and celebrated by fellow botanists for his knowledge of the flora of Crete, but he published nothing.

Quoted in: C. Clusius,Rariorum plantarum historia (Antwerp 1601) 27, 28, 48, 49, 109, 281, 343, 358, lxxxviii, cxii, cxc, cxcviii, cxcix, ccxxxviii, ccxlii, cclix. and 7 letters with information on Cretensic plants (1594-1597) on page ccxvii-cccxiii.
-C. Clusius, Exoticorum libri decem (Leiden 1605) 21, 22, 23, 86, 87, appendix [470].
-C. Clusius, Curae Posteriores (Leiden 1611) 72, 118.

Residence

• Chania 1583 - 1597
• Vicenza 1597 - 1604
• Padova 
• Vicenza  - 1583

Occupation

• physician 1583 - 1597, Chania
• physician 1597 - 1604, Vicenza

Education

• student of medicine  - University of Padua, Padova

Membership

N/A

Provenance

• C. Clusius,Rariorum plantarum historia (Antwerp 1601) 27, 28, 48, 49, 109, 281, 343, 358, lxxxviii, cxii, cxc, cxcviii, cxcix, ccxxxviii, ccxlii, cclix. and 7 letters with information on Cretensic plants (1594-1597) on page ccxvii-cccxiii.
• C. Clusius, Exoticorum libri decem (Leiden 1605) 21, 22, 23, 86, 87, appendix [470].
• C. Clusius, Curae Posteriores (Leiden 1611) 72, 118.
• F. Egmond, The world of Carolus Clusius: Natural History in the Making, 1550-1610 (London 2010) passim.
• Luigi Beschi ed., "Onorio Belli Accademico Olimpico. Scritti d'Antiquaria e Botanica" 1586-1602 (Rome 2000).

Publications

N/A

Wiki and VIAF

Wiki Data: N/A
VIAF: N/A