Name: Cesare
Surname: Poma
Birth: Biella, 21 march 1862
Occupation: diplomat
Cesare Poma was born into a family of cotton entrepreneurs; however, he did not follow in the footsteps of his parents and siblings, instead dedicating himself first to classical studies and later to law. He attended the Collegio in Moncalieri, where he was awarded the title of “Prince of Studies” in 1879. His academic pursuits led him to embark on a diplomatic career, which took him across the world between 1885 and 1907, with postings in Smyrna, Trieste, Rio de Janeiro, New York, San Francisco, Mexico, Campinas, Cardiff, Tientsin, Johannesburg, and Liverpool.
Stationed in various cities across North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa (and maintaining direct contacts with Oceania), Cesare Poma—an amateur enthusiast of linguistics, numismatics, botany, and Oriental art—epitomized the Vatican Library’s broad intellectual curiosity, its vast heritage, and, above all, its spirit of collection and inquiry. His efforts to gather, classify, and make available the knowledge produced by humanity across the globe reflect the library’s mission. Few figures embody the traveler’s spirit as well as this Biella-born consul, making him a central figure in a diverse and vibrant showcase of world tours—many of which, like his own, began in the latter half of the 19th century. Inspired by the immense literary success of Jules Verne’s novels and fueled by modern technological advancements, dozens of men and women set out in various directions on remarkable journeys.
Mappa completa delle aree costiere delle sette provincie. Collezione privata.
Poma was a man of a vivid and independent personality—erudite and sharp, with a strong sense of morality and the disciplined rigor characteristic of those devoted to study and research. Unyielding and indifferent to the allure of power, he demonstrated great intellectual autonomy, critical thinking, and an anti-colonial mindset, particularly in China, where he found himself at odds with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which hastily forced him into early retirement.
He later reflected on those days, writing: “Since it was not even pleasant to represent a government so blatantly in the wrong, the writer was ultimately pleased when he could leave the handling, so to speak, of the circus and puppets in Tientsin to more skillful hands.” In the same article, dedicated to “Chinese Statesmen,” he did not hold back in criticizing Western governments for their actions in China, nor did he spare Italy’s pretentious colonial policies—“our emigration and our foreign trade are neither of such quality nor quantity as to justify dealings with viceroys”—and he also took aim at the diplomatic world, with its rigid customs and formulaic language.
Dall’album personale di Cesare Poma – Schedario manoscritto – Il composto verbale. Appunti filologici di Cesare Poma ©Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
His personal archive contains an eclectic collection of materials, including theater posters and reviews—most notably of Eleonora Duse’s performances—photographs and portraits of actresses and celebrated beauties of the time, newspaper clippings, political caricatures, and an extensive and unexpected collection of menus from diplomatic and gala dinners he attended, attesting to his lively curiosity about the world.
His Legacy at the Vatican Library
Thanks to archival documents donated by the Galateri di Genola e Suniglia family to the Vatican Apostolic Library, it is possible to reconstruct not only Poma’s diplomatic career but also his numerous intellectual pursuits across national and international cultural fields.
Much of this preservation is owed to the foresight of his mother, Clelia Bona de Fabianis, who, a few years after his death, donated her son’s documents and research materials to archives and libraries.
Today, these documents are safeguarded in the Vatican Library, organized into dedicated collections or integrated into existing ones. Among them are personal financial records, archival documents, rare Jewish bibliographic materials, papers from his time in Tientsin (Tianjin), collections of photographs, postcards, newspaper clippings, theater posters, and menus from official dinners. Additionally, the library preserves five issues of the Bollettino Italiano dell’Estremo Oriente (within the Carte Poma collection); 1,260 newspapers from 1,109 different publications worldwide, meticulously labeled by Poma with the language of each publication—these will be studied, cataloged (thanks to a scholarship funded by Maison Dior), and digitized (within the Periodici Poma collection); a handwritten name index compiled by Poma, consisting of paper slips and excerpts from various publications (Vat. lat. 14304-14324); and a collection of 815 Chinese coins dating from 2356 BCE (according to local chronology) to 1875 CE, which was donated to the library on December 28, 1950, by Enrico Guagno of Biella, Poma’s cousin (Collezione Guagno).