Luigi Torchi was an Italian musicologist, born in Bologna on November 7, 1858. He died there on September 18, 1920.
He studied composition at the Naples Conservatory with Paolo Serrao, then continued his studies in France and Germany. In Leipzig, he studied at the conservatory with Carl Reinecke and Salomon Jadassohn. After returning to Italy, he devoted himself to musicology.
From 1885 to 1891, Torchi taught music history at the Pesaro Music Lyceum and later at the Bologna Music Lyceum, where he served as acting director in 1912–1913. He edited the Italian Musical Review from 1894 to 1904.
His publications included a study of Richard Wagner, Richard Wagner: A Critical Study (1890), and The Art of Music in Italy (1907), a major history of Italian music from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries. He also wrote articles on Italian music of various periods. His students included Ottorino Respighi.