Domenico Viviani

Domenico Viviani (29 July 1772, Levanto, Liguria – 15 February 1840, Genoa) was an Italian botanist and naturalist.

In 1803, he was named professor of botany at the University of Genoa, where he is credited with the founding of its botanical garden. He is known for his natural history studies (botany, mineralogy, zoology) of the Ligurian region as well as botanical investigations of flora native to other areas of the Italian mainland, Sardinia, Corsica, and Libya.

In 1804, Antonio José Cavanilles named the botanical genus Viviania (of family Vivianiaceae, from southern South America) in his honor. He bequeathed his library of 2000 volumes from the 16th to the 19th century to King Charles Albert of Sardinia, who in turn donated the books to the University of Genoa library. His herbarium in Genoa was destroyed due to the ravages of war, however, some of his specimens can be located in other herbaria.