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Italian Wars

(Encyclopedia)Italian Wars, 1494–1559, series of regional wars brought on by the efforts of the great European powers to control the small independent states of Italy. Renaissance Italy was split into numerous ri...

Boscovich, Ruggiero Giuseppe

(Encyclopedia)Boscovich, Ruggiero Giuseppe ro͞od-jāˈrō jo͞ozĕpˈpā bôsˈkōvēch [key], 1711–87, Italian mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. He became a Jesuit and taught at Rome, Pavia, and Milan. ...

Cortina d'Ampezzo

(Encyclopedia)Cortina d'Ampezzo kōrtēˈnä dämpĕdˈzō [key], town, in Venetia, NE Italy, in th...

Moneta, Ernesto Teodoro

(Encyclopedia)Moneta, Ernesto Teodoro ārnĕsˈtō tāōᵺôˈrō mōnĕˈ-tä [key], 1833–1918, Italian editor and pacifist; winner of the 1907 Nobel Peace Prize. He joined the movement for Italian unification,...

Sammartini, Giovanni Battista

(Encyclopedia)Sammartini, Giovanni Battista jōvänˈnē bät-tēsˈtä säm-märtēˈnē [key], c.1701–75, Italian composer. Sammartini lived most of his life in Milan. He was influential in the development of t...

Valtellina

(Encyclopedia)Valtellina vältāl-lēˈnä [key], Alpine valley of the upper Adda River, c.75 mi (120 km) long, in Lombardy, N Italy, extending from Lake Como to the Stelvio Pass. The main towns are Sondrio and Tir...

Bicocca, La

(Encyclopedia)Bicocca, La lä bēkôkˈkä [key], former village, Lombardy, N Italy, now part of Milan. There, in 1522, the vicomte de Lautrec, commanding a French army and Swiss mercenaries, was defeated by a comb...

Scotto, Renata

(Encyclopedia)Scotto, Renata, 1934–, Italian soprano. She made her debut at La Scala, in Milan, in 1953 and at the Metropolitan Opera, in New York City, in 1965. Noted for her versatility and dramatic intensity, ...

Baccaloni, Salvatore

(Encyclopedia)Baccaloni, Salvatore sälvätôˈrā bäk–kälōˈnē [key], 1900–1970, Italian operatic bass, b. Rome. Baccaloni studied architecture before he made his singing debut in Rome in 1921. In 1926 he ...

Bramante, Donato

(Encyclopedia)Bramante, Donato dōnäˈtō brämänˈtā [key], 1444–1514, Italian Renaissance architect and painter, b. near Urbino. His buildings in Rome are considered the most characteristic examples of High ...