Researching Giovanni Volta

Ordained to the priesthood on 29 June 1952 by Bishop Domenico Menna, he was a student at the Pontifical Lombard Seminary of Saints Ambrose and Charles in Urbe (Italian: Pontificio seminario lombardo dei santi Ambrogio e Carlo in Urbe) and graduated in Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1957, defending a thesis on the redemption from death in Augustine's thought. The thesis was then revised by the author and published posthumously in 2012 by Città Nuova with the title "Timore e speranza: la redenzione della morte in Agostino".

During the Second Vatican Council and in the post-Council years he was a speaker at various conferences and author of publications to promote the dissemination and reception of the Council documents. He was rector of the diocesan seminary of Mantua and, from 1977 to 1986, general ecclesiastical assistant of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan.

Elected bishop of Pavia on 2 April 1986, he received the episcopal consecration on 25 May 1986.

He took canonical possession of the diocese of Pavia on 7 June 1986 and entered the diocese on 15 June 1986.

On 11 February 1992 he recognised the Casa del Giovane, founded by Don Enzo Boschetti, as a private association of the Christian faithful and approved its statutes.

As president of the Ecclesial Commission for Justice and Peace of the Italian Episcopal Conference, he coordinated the document Educare alla Legalità (English: Educating for legality), approved in Rome on 4 October 1991. This document anticipated the season of "mani pulite" (English: clean hands), pointing also at the lack of commitment of many Catholics.

In 1996 he celebrated the VI centenary of the Charterhouse of Pavia and on this occasion Pope John Paul II addressed a letter to him.

During his episcopate he carried out two pastoral visits and called, 76 years after the previous one, the 20th Diocesan Synod (inaugurated on 9 April 1998 and concluded on 8 December 2002).

On 1 December 2003 Pope John Paul II accepted his resignation due to age limit.

He promoted devotion to Saint Richard Pampuri, writing and circulating some prayers.

He died in Mantua on 4 February 2012 and his remains were transferred to Pavia Cathedral on 7 September 2012.

Volta was an Abate (or abbot) and theologian. He was a Canon of the Imperial Basilica in Mantua and the curator of the natural history department at the University of Pavia.

He wrote Ittiolitologia Veronese del Museo Bozziano ora annesso a quello del Conte Giovambattista Gazola e di altri gabinetti di fossili Veronesi con la versione Latina, published at Verona between 1796 and 1809. Illustrated with 76 fine plates this is the first treatise on fossil ichthyology in Italy and describes 123 species of fossil fish from the fossil site of Monte Bolca.

With Louis Agassiz he also wrote Revue critique des poissons fossiles figurés dans l'Ittiolitologia veronesé (Neuchatel, 1835).

Most other widely known works include:

*Elementi di Mineralogia Analitica e Sistematica Manimi, 1787*Prospetto Del Museo Bellisomiano, classificato e compendiosamente descritto (1787). * *Chemisch-mineralischer Versuch über die Bäder und Gebürge von Baaden*Saggio analitico sulle acque minerali di S. Colombano*Dei Pesci fossili del Veronese, lettera indirizzata al signor abate don Domenico Testa*Osservazioni di storia naturale sul viaggio da Fiorenzola a Velleja*Transunto di osservazioni sopra il lago di Garda ed i suoi contorni *Osservazioni botanico-zoologiche e agrarie sul Riso sativo e lo Scarabeo fruticola*Lettera sopra alcune sperienze riguardanti il sessualismo dei vegetabili del Sig Canonico Don Giovanni Serafino Volta al Sig Luigi Brugnatelli Biblioteca Fisica d'Europa, Vol. 7