Schiaparelli and his legacy

Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli has been one of the most important Italian astronomers of the eighteen hundreds. He was an active scientist and the director of the Brera Observatory for close to 40 years; his scientific achievements and his personal influence can be traced to a very large community of people and subjects, which go well beyond the observations of Mars, for which he is most famous. His vast range of interests, which include studies on history of Astronomy and ancient languages, Solar System bodies, meteorology, and Earth sciences, are well documented and will be the reviewed in this conference. More relevant to modern science, he has left us a very solid legacy, both with his pioneering scientific works, now progressing with new discoveries and the aid of new technology, and with the consequences of his observations of Mars, which have greatly influenced the literary world and have opened new research activities in medicine.