Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Guareschi, Giovanni jōväˈnē gwärĕsˈkē [key], 1908–68, Italian journalist and novelist. Guareschi edited a humorous weekly before World War II and in 1945 helped to found the popular weekly C...

(Encyclopedia) madrigal, name for two different forms of Italian music, one related to the poetic madrigal in the 14th cent., the other the most common form of secular vocal music in the 16th cent. The poetic madrig...

(Encyclopedia) Paisiello, Giovanni jōvänˈnē päēzyĕlˈlō [key], 1740–1816, Italian composer. Paisiello served in St. Petersburg at the court of Catherine II from 1776 to 1784. He was also briefly Napoleon's...

(Encyclopedia) Diodati, Giovanni jōvänˈnē dyōdäˈtē [key], 1576–1649, Swiss Calvinist scholar and theologian, of a family of Italian Protestant refugees. He succeeded (1609) Theodore Beza as professor of th...

(Encyclopedia) Villani, Giovanni jōvänˈnē vēl-läˈnē [key], c.1275–1348, Italian historian of Florence. As a Florentine government functionary, he participated in some of the events he narrates. His 12-volu...

(Encyclopedia) Pontano, Giovanni jōvänˈnē pōntäˈnō [key], 1426–1503, Italian poet, historian, and statesman, who used also the Latin form Jovianus Pontanus. He was protected by Alfonso of Aragón, who made...

(Encyclopedia) Segantini, Giovanni jōvänˈnē sāgäntēˈnē [key], 1858–99, Italian painter, b. in the Tyrol. A herder in his youth, he is known for his portrayal of Alpine peasant scenes. Although his early w...

(Encyclopedia) Cunha, Tristão da dä ko͞oˈnyə [key], c.1460–1514?, Portuguese navigator. His most important voyage was undertaken in 1506, when he set out with 15 ships for India. He discovered three volcanic...

(Encyclopedia) Francesca da Rimini fränchĕsˈkä dä rēˈmēnē [key], fl. 13th cent., Italian beauty, daughter of Guido da Polenta of Ravenna. She was married by proxy to the hunchbacked lord of Rimini, Gianciot...

(Encyclopedia) Vittorino da Feltre vēt-tōrēˈnō dä fĕlˈtrā [key], 1378–1446, Italian humanist and teacher, b. Feltre. His real name was Vittorino Ramboldini. He studied at Padua and later taught there, but...