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Messina, Strait of

(Encyclopedia)Messina, Strait of, channel, c.20 mi (32 km) long and from 2 to 10 mi (3.2–16 km) wide, separating the Italian peninsula from Sicily and connecting the Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas. Reggio di Calabria...

Vries, Adriaen de

(Encyclopedia)Vries, Adriaen de äˈdrēän də vrēs [key], c.1560–c.1626, Dutch sculptor. Having studied in Florence under Giovanni Bologna, he carried into Bohemia and Germany the influence of the Italian Rena...

Tacca, Pietro

(Encyclopedia)Tacca, Pietro pyāˈtrō täkˈkä [key], 1577–1644, Italian sculptor. A pupil of Giovanni Bologna, Tacca adopted the tortuous poses of mannerism and combined them in his bronzes with a classical na...

Lorenzetti

(Encyclopedia)Lorenzetti lōrān-tsĕtˈtē [key], two brothers who were major Sienese painters. Pietro Lorenzetti, c.1280–c.1348, was first influenced by Duccio di Buoninsegna and Giovanni Pisano. His earliest k...

Costa, Lorenzo

(Encyclopedia)Costa, Lorenzo lōrĕnˈtsō kōˈstä [key], 1460–1535, Italian painter of the Ferrarese and Bolognese schools. Trained in the manner of such painters as Tura and Cossa, he modified the strident Fe...

Giambono, Michele

(Encyclopedia)Giambono, Michele mēkĕˈlā jämbōˈnō [key], fl.1420–62, Venetian mosaicist and painter, whose original name was Michele Giovanni Boni. One of the last exponents of the international Gothic sty...

Callas, Maria Meneghini

(Encyclopedia)Callas, Maria Meneghini märēˈä mĕnĕgēˈnē käˈläs [key], 1923–77, Greek-American soprano, b. New York City. At 13, Callas moved to Greece, where she studied at the Royal Conservatory in At...

Pinza, Ezio

(Encyclopedia)Pinza, Ezio ātsˈyō pēnˈtsä [key], 1892–1957, Italian bass, b. Rome, studied at the Bologna Conservatory. After military service (1915–19), he resumed his operatic career in Rome, later singi...

Medici, Italian family

(Encyclopedia)Medici mĕˈdĭchē, Ital. māˈdēchē [key], Italian family that directed the destinies of Florence from the 15th cent. until 1737. Of obscure origin, they rose to immense wealth as merchants and ba...

mandolin

(Encyclopedia)mandolin mănˌdəlĭnˈ, mănˈdəlĭnˌ [key], musical instrument of the lute family, with a half-pear-shaped body, a fretted neck, and a variable number of strings, plucked with the fingers or with...