Pietro Romualdo Pirotta

He taught science at the liceo of Pistoia and simultaneously worked at the mycological laboratory which was part of the Botanical Institute of the University of Pavia, where he received his laurea (PhD).

In 1883 the minister Guido Baccelli appointed him Professor at the Department of Botany at the Sapienza University of Rome, in which position he remained until 1928.

Pirotta directed the creation of a new botanical institute in the garden attached to the convent of San Lorenzo in Panisperna.

Pirotta was a founder of the publication of l'Annuario of the Royal Botanical Institute of Rome (subsequently named the Annali di Botanica).

[2] Pirotta identified the first outbreaks of Plasmopara viticola (grapevine downy mildew) in Italy.