Leonida Tonelli (1943)

A mathematician, Tonelli accepted the appointment from Carlo Alberto Biggini, the Director of the Minister of National Education of the Republic of Salò, out of a spirit of service towards the Scuola Normale.
He had many of the volumes and the archival heritage of the Scuola Normale transferred to the Certosa di Calci to preserve it during the Nazi occupation.
In the sessions of the board of directors, he spoke with surprising farsightedness of the problems that the Scuola Normale would have to face with the end of the war.
During his leadership, the Palazzo della Carovana was occupied and looted several times. The Palazzetto Timpano, seat of the medical college, was destroyed by bombing.