Magyar László szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 166-169. (Budapest, 1999)
KISEBB KÖZLEMÉNYEK — ESSAYS - Le Calloc'h, Bernard: Vincenzo Dandolo, avagy egy olasz gyógyszerész regényes élete
Lake Lugano, and made his newly erected Villa Annunciata a centre for scientific and radical political circles. An unexpected development indeed for Dandolo it was when Suvorov's army appeared in the Italian scene in 1799, and so he fled to Paris via Geneva. He used his long stay in Paris for making contacts with leading French chemists and pharmacists including Parmentier, Hilaire Rouelle, Bertrand Pelletier, Nicolas Vanquelin, and Jean Darcet. After Marengo, when the military situation improved (for the French at any rate and for those who sided with them), Dandolo returned to Milan but hesitated entering the political arena again. He preferred to keep up with his company of intellectuals and was honoured with membership in many scientific bodies e. g. the Collegio dei Dotti, and the Instituto Nazionale. In the meantime his interest moved from pharmaceutical production to agriculture. He started with Merino sheep-farming, but smoothly increased his farms with potato fields and vineyards. Always open to reasoning and new initiatives he also tried to support his commercial interests with propaganda by lecturing and publishing articles about the advantages of e.g. potato and urging his native Italian peasantry — certainly without any serious reason — to replace pasta with it. He soon became a well known agriculturist essaying on everything from wine conservation to fertilisation and silkworm breeding. In 1805 his life changed again. As a result of the Peace Treaty of Pressburg, Dalmatia was ceded to the Kingdom of Italy, and Emperor Napoleon picked out Dandolo to be his Chief Governor in Dalmatia. Dandolo arrived with full of plans to Zara when he occupied his post in 1806. His objective was to reform the backward province and making it a well organised, thoughtfully run and productive modern state. His dreams were, however, blocked partly by Marshall Marmont, the military commander of the province, who had certainly little interest in the welfare and prosperity of the inhabitants but demanded that strategic needs (building roads, forts, barracks, and artillery reserves) to be met at all costs. But even the Croatians showed only limited sympathy for Dandolo's outlandish projects. Nevertheless, Dandolo's contact with Marmont changed unexpectedly when the Marshall met the young and attractive wife of the Governor. Dandolo served in Dalmatia for three years, he produced a new constitution, reformed the judiciary, the education, and agriculture, set up a gendarmerie, launched a Croatian and an Italian newspaper etc. Satisfying Napoleon's requirements by his excellence in statecraft, Dandolo became a count, a senator of Italy, received the Order of Ironcrown, and became a member of the French Legion of Honour. His Dalmatian years ended when after Napoleon's decline in Russia the French gave up the province, so the old Venetian returned to his estate in Lombardy where he led a reserved life until his death in 1819.
