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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...

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...

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, ...

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....

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...

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,...

Lorenzo di Pietro

(Encyclopedia)Lorenzo di Pietro pyāˈtrō [key], c.1412–1480, Sienese painter, sculptor, and goldsmith, called Il Vecchietta. He painted a group of frescoes and a relic press in the hospital at Siena; four ceili...

Delmedigo, Elijah ben Moses Abba

(Encyclopedia)Delmedigo, Elijah ben Moses Abba dālmĕˈdēgō [key], c.1460–1497, Jewish philosopher and Talmudist, b. Crete, known also as Elijah Cretensis. He emigrated to Italy as a young man. He studied the ...

Dosso Dossi

(Encyclopedia)Dosso Dossi dôsˈsō dôsˈsē [key], 1479?–1542, Italian painter of the Ferrarese school, whose real name was Giovanni di Niccolò de Luteri. He may have been a pupil of Lorenzo Costa, but was cer...

Siepi, Cesare

(Encyclopedia)Siepi, Cesare chāˈzärā sēĕpˈē [key], 1923–2010, Italian opera singer, b. Milan. A classic basso cantante [singing bass], his warm, resonant voice was suited to for Mozart's operas, and the t...