Filippo Maria Renazzi (4 July 1745 – 29 June 1808) was an Italian Jurist and historian active in the Papal States of the eighteen century.
As soon as he graduated in Law, as early as 1768, at the age of 21, he became a professor at the Archiginnasio Romano (as it was called at the time La Sapienza University of Rome).
He was called by Empress Catherine II of Russia in St. Petersburg to collaborate in the laborious reform of the Criminal Code, which began in 1767 and lasted for many years.
[1] Other juridical works of him are: De sortilegio et magia liber singularis (Venice: 1782), where he supports the decriminalization of witchcraft; De ordine seu forma judiciorum criminalium diatriba (Rome: 1777), an outline of the history of criminal Law; and Synopsis elementorum juris criminalis (Rome: 1803), a summary of his Elementa juris criminalis.
[1] Renazzi wrote three essays[7] in polemic with the thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau,[4] stating that classical studies and poetry have a positive impact on civilization when supported by morality.