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Giolitti, Giovanni

(Encyclopedia)Giolitti, Giovanni jōvänˈnē jōlētˈtē [key], 1842–1928, Italian public official, five times premier (1892–93, 1903–5, 1906–9, 1911–14, 1920–21). He entered parliament in 1882 and se...

Farnese

(Encyclopedia)Farnese färnāˈzā [key], Italian noble family that ruled Parma and Piacenza from 1545 to 1731. In the 12th cent. the Farnese held several fiefs in Latium. They became one of the most prominent fami...

Clement VI, pope

(Encyclopedia)Clement VI, 1291–1352, pope (1342–52), a Frenchman named Pierre Roger; successor of Benedict XII. His court was at Avignon. He had been archbishop of Sens, archbishop of Rouen, and cardinal (1338)...

Antonioni, Michelangelo

(Encyclopedia)Antonioni, Michelangelo mëkālänˈjālō äntōnyôˈnē [key], 1912–2007, Italian film director and scriptwriter, b. Ferrara, Italy. In the 1940s he made documentaries that contributed to the dev...

Gregory IX

(Encyclopedia)Gregory IX, 1143?–1241, pope (1227–41), an Italian named Ugolino di Segni, b. Anagni; successor of Honorius III. As cardinal under his uncle, Innocent III, he became, at St. Francis' request, the ...

Pavia

(Encyclopedia)Pavia pävēˈä [key], city (1991 pop. 79,962), capital of Pavia prov., Lombardy, N Italy, on the Ticino River near its confluence with the Po. Pavia has long been an agricultural center and is now a...

madrigal

(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...

libretto

(Encyclopedia)libretto ləbrĕtˈō [key] [Ital.,=little book], the text of an opera or an oratorio. Although a play usually emphasizes an integrated plot, a libretto is most often a loose plot connecting a series ...

Carthusians

(Encyclopedia)Carthusians kärtho͞oˈzhənz [key], small order of monks of the Roman Catholic Church [Lat. abbr.,=O. Cart.]. It was established by St. Bruno at La Grande Chartreuse (see Chartreuse, Grande) in Fran...

Bonaventure, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Bonaventure or Bonaventura, Saint bŏnˌəvĕnˈchər, bōˌnävānto͞oˈrä [key], 1221–74, Italian scholastic theologian, cardinal, Doctor of the Church, called the Seraphic Doctor, b. near Viter...