Italian linguist and politician. Considered the founder of Italian Indology. Graduated in Turin in 1830, he first attended courses in classical philosophy and philology in Vienna, before returning to Italy and teaching history for a short period at the Military Academy of Turin. In 1835 he was co-opted to the College of Sciences and Letters at the University of Turin, in 1838, at the invitation of King Carlo Alberto, he went to Paris to study Sanskrit under the guidance of Eugène Burnouf and later to London to consult manuscripts of the greatest epic Indian, the Ramayana of Valmiki. This work was edited by him (10 vols., Paris 1843-1850) and translated into Italian (Paris 1847-1858). The anastatic reprint of the text alone (Madras 1980-1982) is still today a monument of unmatched erudition and textual criticism. From 1852 to 1855 Gorresio taught Sanskrit Language and Literature in Turin, the first of its kind in Italy, from 1842 he was librarian at the National Library, of which he became director in 1862. From 1868 he was a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres of Paris and of the Academy of Sciences of Turin, of which he was appointed perpetual secretary. He was also a senator of the Kingdom of Italy, a knight of the Civil Order of Savoy, a national member of the Accademia dei Lincei and an academic of the Crusca. The University of Turin wanted to honor his name by naming the recently acquired building where the Department of Oriental Studies is now based after Gorresio.
Italian linguist and politician. Considered the founder of Italian Indology. Graduated in Turin in 1830, he first attended courses in classical philosophy and philology in Vienna, before returning to Italy and teaching history for a short period at the Military Academy of Turin. In 1835 he was co-opted to the College of Sciences and Letters at the University of Turin, in 1838, at the invitation of King Carlo Alberto, he went to Paris to study Sanskrit under the guidance of Eugène Burnouf and later to London to consult manuscripts of the greatest epic Indian, the Ramayana of Valmiki. This work was edited by him (10 vols., Paris 1843-1850) and translated into Italian (Paris 1847-1858). The anastatic reprint of the text alone (Madras 1980-1982) is still today a monument of unmatched erudition and textual criticism. From 1852 to 1855 Gorresio taught Sanskrit Language and Literature in Turin, the first of its kind in Italy, from 1842 he was librarian at the National Library, of which he became director in 1862. From 1868 he was a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres of Paris and of the Academy of Sciences of Turin, of which he was appointed perpetual secretary. He was also a senator of the Kingdom of Italy, a knight of the Civil Order of Savoy, a national member of the Accademia dei Lincei and an academic of the Crusca. The University of Turin wanted to honor his name by naming the recently acquired building where the Department of Oriental Studies is now based after Gorresio.
Bio by: Ruggero
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