Assarotti, Ottavio, abba

Hearing. Born in Genoa and entered the priesthood. When he learned that some deaf children in France had been "restored" to society and religion, he took an interest in some local deaf children, and after learning their sign language, established the third public school for the deaf in Italy in 1802. This was the first deaf school having both residential and day students, and the first having residential students live on the school premises. The traditional and distinctive Italian manual alphabet is said to have been invented by Assarotti. He was very influential on early Italian deaf education, as he trained most of the early Italian educators of the deaf. However, he never wrote down his educational philosophy and methods, and so fell into obscurity after his death.