FOSSOMBRONI, Vittorio (1754-1844), a Tuscan statesman and mathematician, was born at Arezzo in 1754.

He was educated at the university of Pisa, where he devoted himself particularly to mathematical science. He obtained an official appointment in Tuscany in 1782, and twelve years later was entrusted by the grand-duke with the direction of the works for the drainage of the Val di Chiana, a task for which he had already shown his fitness by the publication of a treatise on the subject. In 1796 he was made minister for foreign affairs; and on the erection of the grand-duchy into the ephemeral kingdom of Etruria, he became a member of the commission of finance. After the annexation of Tuscany to the French empire, he was created by Napoleon I. chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He was also named head of the commission established for carrying out the drainage of the Pontine marshes. He became first minister of the restored grand-duchy (1814), and his administration, which was only terminated by his death, greatly contributed to promote the wellbeing of the country. Fossombroni was author of many treatises on mathematical and mechanical science, most of them relating to hydraulics. At the age of seventy-eight he married, and twelve years afterwards died, in 1844, at the age of ninety.