Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

341 results found

Einaudi, Luigi

(Encyclopedia)Einaudi, Luigi lwēˈjē ānouˈdē [key], 1874–1961, president of Italy (1948–55). A noted economist, a senator for life from 1919, and an opponent of Fascism after 1924, Einaudi taught at the Un...

Clement XI, pope

(Encyclopedia)Clement XI, 1649–1721, pope (1700–1721), an Italian (b. Urbino) named Giovanni Francesco Albani; successor of Innocent XII. He was known in his youth for his prodigious learning and brilliance. He...

Prato

(Encyclopedia)Prato ēn tōskäˈnä [key], city (1991 pop. 165,707), Tuscany, central Italy. It is a major textile-making center, known for its wool industry since the 13th cent. Weaving machinery, leather goods, ...

Chabot, Philippe de

(Encyclopedia)Chabot, Philippe de brēôNˈ [key], 1480–1543, count of Charny and of Buzançois, admiral of France. After a successful campaign (1536) in Savoy and Piedmont, he was, through the intrigues of Anne,...

serenade

(Encyclopedia)serenade [Ital. sera=evening], term used to designate several types of musical composition. Opera and song literature yield numerous examples of the serenade sung or played by a lover at night beneath...

Spontini, Gaspare

(Encyclopedia)Spontini, Gaspare gäsˈpärā spōntēˈnē [key], 1774–1851, Italian opera composer. Spontini studied music in Naples. He went to Paris in 1803, was soon backed by the Empress Josephine, won a pri...

Bandinelli, Bartolomeo

(Encyclopedia)Bandinelli, Bartolomeo bätˈchō [key], 1493?–1560, Florentine sculptor and painter; son of a goldsmith. He attempted to emulate Michelangelo, and derived from him a strong interest in musculature....

Giotto

(Encyclopedia)Giotto (Giotto di Bondone) jôtˈtō dē bōndôˈnā [key], c.1266–c.1337, Florentine painter and architect. He is noted not only for his own work, but for the lasting impact he had on the course o...

Eco, Umberto

(Encyclopedia)Eco, Umberto əmbĕrˈtō ĕcō [key], 1932–2016, Italian novelist, essayist, and semiotics scholar. His first novel, the best-selling Il nome della rosa (1980; tr. The Name of the Rose, 1983, film ...

Alberoni, Giulio

(Encyclopedia)Alberoni, Giulio jo͞oˈlyō älbārōˈnē [key], 1664–1752, Italian statesman in Spanish service, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Appointed (1713) representative of the duke of Parma at the...