The recent unveiling of a plaque for the 150th anniversary of the death of Angelica Palli (1798-1875) at the Famedio di Montenero in Livorno prompted us to check her exact dates of birth and death, as we always do.

Let us say at once that the dates are correct; still, in our view, the matter deserves a brief reflection. Angelica Palli was Greek Orthodox and, as such, is buried in the Greek Orthodox cemetery of Livorno in Via Mastacchi. Her inscription (see below) is rather vague: it says only that she was born in Livorno in 1798 and buried on 7 March 1875.

So first of all we checked the date of death in her death record, a copy of which is kept at the State Archives of Livorno and is reproduced below:

The record confirms that she died on 6 March 1875 at 1.15 pm in the house at Via Borra 9, third floor; she was the daughter of the late Panajotti Palli and Dorotea (De Gorgio [sic]) and the widow of Giovan Paolo Bartolommei. Her mother’s name seems to be wrong: according to our research it was Dorotea Filippopoliti, also called Alessiani, but that is another story.

With that settled, the next step was to clarify her birth by looking for her baptism record, which in this case is not easy in Livorno. Essential help comes from a book published in Greece in 1986, written in Greek:

This book provides transcriptions of the baptisms, marriages and deaths of the Greek Orthodox community of Livorno from 1760 onwards. As can easily be read, Angelica Palli was baptised on 20 November 1798, having been born on 11 November 1798.

Of course, these dates are in the Julian calendar, used by all Orthodox Christians. Converted to the Gregorian calendar, her birth actually took place on 22 November 1798, as we would count it today. In her time, in her Greek Orthodox family, the date was 11 November.

The same applies to her death: it did take place on 6 March 1875, but also, according to the Julian calendar, on 22 February 1875.

Finally, congratulations to the Lions Club Livorno Porto Mediceo and the Ixnous association for commemorating this important figure of Livorno. As always, we are glad to help on occasions like this by carefully checking the data.

Note: unfortunately we have not been able to see Angelica Palli’s original baptism record, which we hope to see and publish in future.

P.S. After publication, Dr Veronica Carpita pointed out to us that the image we had used for Angelica Palli may not actually show her, and directed us to an image that certainly does. Thank you! Both images are shown below.