A native of Arezzo, Vittorio Fossombroni was a personage of multifold interests: mathematician, hydraulic engineer, economist, intellectual and political figure. He graduated in 1778 from the University of Pisa, where he then became professor of mathematics. His writings on hydraulics were particularly significant. In 1794 he was appointed General Superintendent of the Department of Waters in Val di Chiana. He directed the work of draining the swamps in the area promoted by Grand Duke Ferdinand III of Lorraine. He studied methods of extracting salt from the salines of Volterra and contemporaneously worked on problems linked to the economy, becoming a strenuous advocate of free trade. The trusted engineer and diplomat of Napoleon Bonaparte, he was commissioned by the latter to draw up a land reclamation project for the countryside around Rome and for the Pontine swamps. He was a personage of the first level in the mangement of the grand-ducal government, occupying roles of the highest importance: in 1796 he was Foreign Minister and from 1814 to 1838 he held the positions of Secretary of State, Foreign Minister again, and Director of the Royal Secretaries.