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spire

(Encyclopedia)spire, high, tapering structure crowning a tower and having a general pyramidal outline. The simplest spires were the steeply pitched timber roofs capping Romanesque towers and campaniles. In later Ro...

Gothic revival

(Encyclopedia)Gothic revival, term designating a return to the building styles of the Middle Ages. Although the Gothic revival was practiced throughout Europe, it attained its greatest importance in the United Stat...

De Sica, Vittorio

(Encyclopedia)De Sica, Vittorio vēt-tôrˈyō də sēˈkə [key], 1901–74, Italian film director and actor. His Shoeshine (1946), The Bicycle Thief (1948), and Umberto D. (1952) are classics of postwar Italian n...

Alamanni, Luigi

(Encyclopedia)Alamanni or Alemanni, Luigi lo͞oēˈjē älämänˈnē, älā– [key], 1495–1556, Italian poet and patriot. He was a friend of Macchiavelli, who may have encouraged his conspiracy (1522) against C...

Antonelli, Giacomo

(Encyclopedia)Antonelli, Giacomo jäˈkōmō äntōnĕlˈlē [key], 1806–76, Italian cardinal and statesman of the Roman Catholic Church, adviser to Pope Pius IX. He received the red hat of the cardinalate in 184...

Panzini, Alfredo

(Encyclopedia)Panzini, Alfredo älfrĕˈdō päntsēˈnē [key], 1863–1939, Italian novelist and lexicographer; pupil of Giosuè Carducci. He taught in secondary schools. His genial, popular novels include Libro ...

Cenis, Mont

(Encyclopedia)Cenis, Mont môN sənēˈ [key], Ital. Moncenisio, Alpine pass, 6,831 ft (2,082 m) high, on the French-Italian border. It is one of the great invasion routes in Italian history. Napoleon I built a new...

Cavalcanti, Guido

(Encyclopedia)Cavalcanti, Guido gwēˈdō kävälkänˈtē [key], c.1255–1300, Italian poet; friend of Dante, whose work was greatly influenced by Cavalcanti's style. He belonged to the White faction in the strug...

Tassoni, Alessandro

(Encyclopedia)Tassoni, Alessandro älĕs-sänˈdrō täs-sôˈnē [key], 1565–1635, Italian poet. He spent much of his life in the service of Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy and Francesco I of Modena. His sharp lette...

Vanini, Lucilio

(Encyclopedia)Vanini, Lucilio lo͞ochēˈlyō vänēˈnē [key], c.1585–1619, Italian philosopher, who gave himself the name Julius Caesar. A freethinker, he was persecuted for his ideas and driven from one Europ...