Egyptology as a science turns 200, a record held by Italy. Ippolito Rosellini, a youthful orientalist, was the inaugural university professor of this field. He introduced students to the history and language of ancient Egypt at the University of Pisa. It was the academic year 1825-26, and Pisa outpaced Paris by six years: in France, a chair of Egyptology was formed only in 1831, and it was assigned to Jean-François Champollion. Each European court aspired to acquire its own Egyptian collection, and Livorno was selected as the primary port of call for this particular commerce. Ships transporting cereals and exotic merchandise departed from Alexandria and arrived in the Tuscan port, along with statues, sarcophagi, mummies, and papyrus. Livorno's warehouses were so packed with objects that we may now see at museums in Turin, Florence, Bologna, London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and Leiden. To celebrate the occasion, the University of Pisa's Egyptologists have planned a series of events honoring Rosellini, including meetings, an international conference in December, and an exhibition featuring the pages of Rosellini's first lectures.