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Mazzini, Giuseppe

(Encyclopedia)Mazzini, Giuseppe jo͞ozĕpˈpā mät-sēˈnē [key], 1805–72, Italian patriot and revolutionist, an outstanding figure of the Risorgimento. His youth was spent in literary and philosophical studies...

Medici, Cosimo de'

(Encyclopedia)Medici, Cosimo de' dā mĕˈdĭchē, Ital. māˈdēchē [key], 1389–1464, Italian merchant prince, first of the Medici family to rule Florence. He is often called Cosimo the Elder. After the death ...

Grisons

(Encyclopedia)Grisons grēsŏnzˈ, Fr. grēzôNˈ [key], Ger. Graubünden, Ital. Grigioni, Romansch Gri...

Catherine II

(Encyclopedia)Catherine II or Catherine the Great, 1729–96, czarina of Russia (1762–96). Catherine increased the power and prestige of Russia by skillful diplomacy and by extending Russia's western boundary i...

Latium

(Encyclopedia)Latium lāˈshēəm [key], Ital. Lazio, region (1990 pop. 5,170,672), 6,642 sq mi (17,203 sq km), central Italy, extending from the Apennines westward to the Tyrrhenian Sea. Rome is the capital of the...

diet, parliamentary body

(Encyclopedia)diet, parliamentary bodies in Japan, Poland, Hungary, Bohemia, the Scandinavian nations, and Germany have been called diets. In German history, the diet originated as a meeting of landholders and burg...

Petrarch

(Encyclopedia)Petrarch fränchĕsˈkō pāträrˈkä [key], 1304–74, Italian poet and humanist, one of the great figures of Italian literature. He spent his youth in Tuscany and Avignon and at Bologna. He returne...

Victor Emmanuel II

(Encyclopedia)Victor Emmanuel II, 1820–78, king of Sardinia (1849–61) and first king of united Italy (1861–78). He fought in the war of 1848–49 against Austrian rule in Lombardy-Venetia and ascended the thr...

Bernini, Giovanni Lorenzo

(Encyclopedia)Bernini, Giovanni Lorenzo or Gianlorenzo jōvänˈnē lōrĕnˈtsō, jänlōrĕnˈtsō bĕrnēˈnē [key], 1598–1680, Italian sculptor and architect, b. Naples. He was the dominant figure of the Ita...

motet

(Encyclopedia)motet mōtĕtˈ [key], name for the outstanding type of musical composition of the 13th cent. and for a different type that originated in the Renaissance. The 13th-century motet, a creation (c.1200) o...