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Mont Blanc

(Encyclopedia)Mont Blanc môN bläN [key], Alpine massif, on the French-Italian border, SE of Geneva. One of its several peaks, also called Mont Blanc (15,771 ft/4,807 m), is the highest peak in France and the seco...

Lugano

(Encyclopedia)Lugano chārāˈzyō [key], narrow and irregular in shape (c.20 sq mi/50 sq km), which lies between Switzerland and Italy. ...

Vivaldi, Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Vivaldi, Antonio äntôˈnyō vēvälˈdē [key], 1678–1741, Italian composer. He was the greatest master of Italian baroque, particularly of violin music and the concerto grosso. Vivaldi received h...

Versace, Gianni

(Encyclopedia)Versace, Gianni (Giovanni Maria Versace), 1946–97, Italian fashion designer, b. Reggio Calabria. A dressmaker's son, Versace worked for several Italian designers before opening (1978) his own Milan ...

Templewood, Samuel John Gurney Hoare, 1st Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Templewood, Samuel John Gurney Hoare, 1st Viscount, 1880–1959, British statesman. He entered parliament as a Conservative in 1910, served (1922–24, 1924–29) as secretary of state for air, and in...

Sismondi, Jean Charles Léonard Simonde de

(Encyclopedia)Sismondi, Jean Charles Léonard Simonde de zhäN shärl lāônärˈ sēmôNdˈ də sēsmôNdēˈ [key], 1773–1842, Swiss historian, economist, and critic. A member of the circle of Mme de Staël, he...

Italy

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Italy ĭtˈəlē [key], Ital. Italia, officially Italian Republic, republic (2015 est. pop. 59,504,000), 116,303 sq mi (301,225 sq km), S Europe. It borders on France in the northwest, the Ligu...

Leonardo da Vinci

(Encyclopedia)Leonardo da Vinci də vĭnˈchē, Ital. lāōnärˈdō dä vēnˈchē [key], 1452–1519, Italian painter, sculptor, architect, musician, engineer, and scientist, b. near Vinci, a hill village in Tusc...

caper

(Encyclopedia)caper, common name for members of the Capparidaceae, a family of tropical plants found chiefly in the Old World and closely related to the family Cruciferae (or Brassicaceae; mustard family). Capparis...

bluebell

(Encyclopedia)bluebell, common name for several plants belonging to completely different classes, particularly the bellflower and the Virginia cowslip, or Virginia bluebell, of the family Boraginaceae (borage famil...