Born in Rome in 1855.
Died in the Vatican on June 16, 1933.
On May 29, 1872, at the age of seventeen, he was admitted as a supernumerary in the Accounting Department of the Apostolic Palaces. In 1901 he held the position of adjunct in the office of auditing the accounts of the Palatine Company when he was appointed provisional regent of the Floreria Apostolica, becoming effective in 1903.
As director of the pontifical warehouse (therefore in charge of the custody of household goods, furnishings, furniture, decorations and everything needed for papal functions), the cav. Costa took care of the delivery of various gifts made by Pius X for the new churches that Don Guanella was building: a splendid ciborium, a gift from the city of Pisa to Leo XIII for his jubilee, and two gilded angels for the church of Vicosoprano; a complete mahogany altar for the *church of Pianello Lario; a walnut altar for the *church of S. Giuseppe al Trionfale, leaving out other minor gifts.
Sources:
Vatican Secret Archive, Apostolic Palace, Titles, n. 86/1, file 4, f. 168r-170v and no. 88, folder 2, ff. 38r-53v.
The death of Comm. Costa, in «L'Osservatore Romano», 16-17 June 1933, p. 3.
Guanellian sources:
Guanellian Letters, nos. 1657, but also 1580 for a complete list of papal gifts of 1909.
Photographs:
ADRIANO PIERCONTI, From Leo XIII to Pius X. Diary from 3 July to 9 August 1903, Rome, 1904, p. 461.