Giuseppe Monti was born in Bologna in 1682. From his adolescence, he was educated in Latin Literature, then he devoted himself to the studies of Chemistry and Botany. Till the age of 40 he was in practice as Chemist.
He was a passionate studious of Botany, correspondent with the main naturalists of his time Sherard, Boerhaave, Commelin, Jussieu, Tilli, Pontedera.
In 1719 he wrote the first catalogue of the plants growing in the Bolognese countryside, giving special attention to grasses and similar of which he annotated the etymology, the distinctive characters, the medical proprieties and the synonyms. Thanks to his fame, he was appointed as Professor at the new Istituto Bolognese, being already member of the Accademy of Sciences of which he was elected president in 1730 and 1736. After two years he got the teaching post of Natural History and Botany. After the death of Giovanni Battista Trionfetti (1656 – 1708) he was appointed by the Senate as Botanic Garden Director. Subsequently, he was in charge of the Aldrovandi Museum where he made a big effort for its rearrangement and classification.
Monti’s herbarium contains 10.000 specimens, belonging to 736 genus and 2523 species. It was completely rearranged by Bertoloni according to the Linnean system and subdivided in 43 folders. Many specimens from Aldrovandi’s herbarium were found inside this collection.
In 1752, after 30 years, he was exempt from teaching Botany and Natural History for health problems, but he kept the direction of the Botanic Garden till his death in 1760. Monti was unanimously considered to be one of the major botanists of his time.
Pier Antonio Micheli named after him the genus Montia, subsequently confirmed by Linneaus.
