Nicola Bottacin, Merchant and Numismatist between Trieste and Padua (1805–1876)

Presented by Marco Callegari

A new event in the conference series promoted by the Cultural Association “Manlio Cecovini Study Society” is scheduled for Tuesday 16 June at 6.00 pm.
At the Antico Caffè San Marco in Trieste, Marco Callegari will give a lecture entitled “Nicola Bottacin, Merchant and Numismatist between Trieste and Padua (1805–1876).”

Nicola Bottacin (1805–1876) was born in Vicenza into a family of modest means of Paduan origin. He left his studies at an early age to enter working life, initially following in his father’s footsteps in the transport and communications sector. He later joined the firm Vivanti as a clerk and worked as an agent in the Venetian branch of the House of James Shiras until 1836.

In 1839 he moved to Trieste, where he founded a wholesale textile business in partnership with Giovanni Pettondi. He soon became integrated into the city’s élite, holding public offices and forging an important friendship with Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg. From 1854 onwards, Nicola Bottacin began collecting coins, in keeping with a practice common among the Triestine bourgeoisie of the time. Within a few years he assembled a remarkable numismatic collection focused on medieval and early modern specimens, as well as a collection of statues and paintings by artists of his own day.

In 1865 he decided to leave his Triestine residence and move to Padua, where he founded the museum that bears his name, linked to the local Civic Museum but endowed with its own statute, separate regulations, a library, an archive and funds bequeathed by Bottacin for its future maintenance. This thoroughly modern solution, well ahead of its time, ensured that the Bottacin Museum continued to grow over the years, eventually becoming one of the most important institutions in the field of numismatics at an international level.

For further information about the events, please write to manliocecovini@studysociety.it.