1. Young Volta
Alessandro Volta, son of Don Filippo and Donna Maddalena dei Conti Inzaghi, was born at Como on 18 th February 1745.

A. Volta's birth certificate

Between 1758 and 1760 he attended the Jesuit’s School of Rhetoric. His favourite authors were Tasso and Virgil and he amused himself by writing verses in Latin.
He started ‘Philosophy Studies’ (Grammar School) and attracted the attention of a Jesuit Father, who tried to persuade him to join the Company. His uncle, a Canon withdrew him from the Jesuit School and enrolled him at the Benzi seminary.
Having finished the Grammar School, he dropped formal studies and, all by himself, got interested in electrical phenomena. He studied books by Musschenbroek, Nollet and Beccaria, the three leading scientists of that time in the field of electricity.

Frontispiece of Beccaria's Electricity Course