Cetti was born in Mannheim in Germany, but his parents were natives of Como. He was educated in Lombardy and at the Jesuit college at Monza. In 1765 he was sent to Sardinia to help improve the standard of education on the island. In 1766 he was appointed to the Chair of Mathematics at the University of Sassari, holding that position until his death.
Cetti took long excursions in the vicinity of Sassari, collating his discoveries in the Storia Naturale di Sardegna (Natural History of Sardinia) (1774–7). This has three volumes, covering mammals, birds and amphibians with fishes. A supplement on mammals was published in 1777.
Cetti, Francesco (1774). Storia Naturale di Sardegna (in Italian). Vol. 1: I Quadrupedi di Sardegna. Sassari: G. Piattoli.
Cetti, Francesco (1776). Storia Naturale di Sardegna (in Italian). Vol. 2: Gli Uccelli di Sardegna. Sassari: G. Piattoli.
Cetti, Francesco (1777). Storia Naturale di Sardegna (in Italian). Vol. 3: Anfibi e Pesci di Sardegna. Sassari: G. Piattoli.
Cetti, Francesco (1777). Appendice alla storia naturale dei quadrupedi di Sardegna (in Italian). Sassari: G. Piattoli.
References
^Temminck, Coenraad Jacob (1820). Manuel d'ornithologie, ou, Tableau systématique des oiseaux qui se trouvent en Europe (in French). Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). Paris: H. Cousin. pp. 194–195.
Further reading
Baldino, Maria (1931). "Francesco Cetti illustratore della fauna sarda". Rivista di storia delle scienze mediche e naturali. XIII: 476–79.
Mearns, Barbara; Mearns, Richard (1988). Biographies for Birdwatchers : the lives of those commemorated in Western Palearctic bird names. London: Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-487422-3.
Mattone, Antonello; Sanna, Piero (2002). "Francesco Cetti e la storia naturale della Sardegna". Studi Storici (in Italian). 43 (4): 967–1002. JSTOR 20567170.
