Michele Gortani (16 January 1883 – 24 January 1966) was an Italian geologist, entomologist, and politician. He was a specialist on the Carnian Alps where he grew up and worked for much of his life. Gortani was born in Friuli to engineer Luigi and Angela Grassi in Lugo, Spain where his father then worked. He was educated at Udine before joining Bologna University, graduating in 1904. He was keenly interested in the Alpine region of Carnia, taking an interest in flora, paleontology, and entomology. He published on the fossils of Carnia while still a student in 1902. He worked as a geological assistant at Perrugia University in 1905 and at Bologna from 1906 to 1910, and Turin (1911-1913). He married Maria Gentile Mencucci from Zuglio in 1911. He became a professor at Pisa University in 1913 a