Documents for "Italian History: Biographies":

• Acton, Sir John Francis Edward 1736?-1811, Neapolitan statesman of British origin, b. Besançon, France. Called upon by Queen Marie Caroline and King Ferdinand IV of Naples (later Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies) to reform the Neapolitan army and navy in 1779, Acton also served as minister of finance and as prime minister (1785-1806 with brief interruptions). With the assistance of Emma...

• Alboin d. 572?, first Lombard king in Italy (569-572?). With the Avars he defeated the Gepidae (see Germans ). He then led (568) an army across the Alps into Italy, took (569) Milan, and after a three-year siege conquered Pavia, which became his capital. He won most of N and central Italy from the...

• Amalasuntha d. 535, Ostrogothic queen in Italy (534-35), daughter of Theodoric the Great. After her father's death (526) she was regent for her son Athalaric. He died in 534, and she and her husband, Theodahad, became joint rulers of Italy. Her friendly relations with the Byzantine...

• Andreotti, Giulio 1919-, Italian political leader. A member of the Christian Democratic party, Andreotti held a variety of ministerial posts throughout the 1950s and 60s and first served as premier in 1972-73. He...

• Antonelli, Giacomo 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 1847, presided over the council drafting the constitution for the Papal States, and became the premier of the pope's first constitutional cabinet...

• Aosta, Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, duke of 1869-1931, Italian general; son of King Amadeus of Spain and cousin of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. In World War I he held the Piave front after the Italian defeat at Caporetto and later occupied...

• Avalos, Ferdinando Francesco d' see Pescara, Ferdinando Francesco d'Avalos, marchese di.

• Azeglio, Massimo Taparelli, marchese d' 1798-1866, Italian premier and author, b. Turin. He studied painting, then turned to literature and wrote two historical novels. In 1845 he became a leader of the movement for national liberation...

• Badoglio, Pietro 1871-1956, Italian soldier and public official. After serving in World War I, he was governor of Libya (1929-33) and succeeded Gen. Emilio de Bono as commander in chief in the Ethiopian conquest,...

• Balbo, Cesare 1789-1853, Italian premier, historian, and author. He held various posts during the Napoleonic occupation of Italy and became involved in the liberal revolution of 1821 in Piedmont. One of the...

• Balbo, Italo 1896-1940, Italian Fascist leader and aviator. After serving in World War I, he joined the Fascist movement and in 1922 was one of the four top leaders of the March on Rome, which brought...

• Bentivoglio Italian noble family, one of several powerful clans in the struggle for control of Bologna during most of the 15th cent. Its greatest member was Giovanni II, who was lord—in fact if not in name—from 1462 until 1506, when Pope Julius II took Bologna. Giovanni II maintained a splendid...

• Berengar II d. 966, marquis of Ivrea. In 950 he made himself and his son joint kings of Italy, but his great unpopularity and his attempt to force Adelaide , his predecessor's widow, to marry his son, brought...

• Berlinguer, Enrico 1922-84, Italian political leader. Born into a wealthy yet politically radical family, Berlinguer joined the Communist party in 1943 and eventually became its secretary-general (1972-84). He...

• Berlusconi, Silvio 1936-, Italian business executive and politician, premier (1994; 2001-6) of Italy, b. Milan. His first fortune was made in real estate during the 1960s. In the early 1980s Berlusconi founded...

• Borghese Roman noble family, originally of Siena. It produced one pope, Paul V , several cardinals, and many prominent citizens. The Borghese were noted patrons of arts and letters. Scipione Cardinal Borghese built the fine Villa Borghese in Rome. Camillo Borghese, a general...

• Borgia Span. Borja , Spanish-Italian noble family, originally from Aragón. When Alfonso de Borja, cardinal-archbishop of Valencia, was pope as Calixtus III (1455-58), several relatives followed him to Rome. His nephew...

• Borgia, Cesare 1476-1507, Italian soldier and politician, younger son of Pope Alexander VI and an outstanding figure of the Italian Renaissance. Throughout his pontificate Alexander VI used his position to aggrandize his son and establish a papal empire in N and central Italy. Archbishop...

• Borgia, Lucrezia 1480-1519, Italian noblewoman, famous figure of the Italian Renaissance; daughter of Pope Alexander VI. Her first marriage (1492) to Giovanni Sforza of Pesaro was annulled in 1497, and she was married to Alfonso of Aragón, illegitimate son of Alfonso II of Naples. Her brother, Cesare Borgia , had her second husband murdered in 1500, and, in 1501, Lucrezia was married to Alfonso d'Este, who became duke of Ferrara in 1505. As duchess of Ferrara, Lucrezia at last escaped the vicious...

• Cadorna, Luigi 1850-1928, Italian field marshal. His father, Raffaele Cadorna, was a general in the wars of the Risorgimento and took Rome in 1870. Luigi Cadorna, a count, became the head of the army general...

• Cairoli, Benedetto 1825-89, Italian patriot and premier. One of five brothers all noted as heroes of the Risorgimento, he was the only brother to survive the wars leading to Italian unification. Benedetto took part...

• Can Grande della Scala see Scala, Can Francesco della.

• Capponi, Gino, Marchese 1792-1876, Italian politician, historian, and educator. He played an important part in the Risorgimento. His theory of education anticipated the thought of John Dewey. In 1848 he was president of...

• Carmagnola, Francesco Bussone da c.1380?-1432, Italian condottiere. He fought for Filippo Maria Visconti, duke of Milan, in his wars against Florence and Venice but later fell out with Visconti and entered the service of Venice...

• Castracani, Castruccio 1281-1328, duke of Lucca. His early life was spent in exile. After his return he was made captain (1316), then lord of Lucca (1320) for life. In the political wars that plagued Italy in the 14th...

• Cavour, Camillo Benso, conte di 1810-61, Italian statesman, premier (1852-59, 1860-61) of the Kingdom of Sardinia. The active force behind King Victor Emmanuel II , he was responsible more than any other man for the unification of Italy under the house of Savoy (see Risorgimento ). Of a noble Piedmontese family, he entered the army early but came under suspicion for his liberal ideas and was forced to resign in 1831. He then devoted himself to travel, agricultural...

• Cenci, Beatrice 1577-99, Italian noblewoman, tragic figure of the late Renaissance. Her father, Francesco Cenci (1549-98), was a Roman noble noted for his viciousness. In 1595 he imprisoned Beatrice and her...

• Charles Albert 1798-1849, king of Sardinia (1831-49, see Savoy, house of ). Because he had not been entirely unsympathetic to the revolutionary movement of 1821 in Sardinia, Charles Albert developed an ambiguous political reputation prior to acceding to the throne in...

• Charles I (Charles of Anjou), 1227-85, king of Naples and Sicily (1266-85), count of Anjou and Provence, youngest brother of King Louis IX of France. He took part in Louis's crusades to Egypt (1248) and...

• Charles II king of Hungary: see Charles III , king of Naples.

• Charles II (Charles the Lame), 1248-1309, king of Naples (1285-1309), count of Anjou and Provence, son and successor of Charles I. In the war of the Sicilian Vespers between Charles I and Peter III of Aragón for possession of Sicily, Charles was captured (1284) in a naval battle by the Aragonese. His father died while he was in captivity and Charles succeeded...

• Charles III (Charles of Durazzo), 1345-86, king of Naples (1381-86) and, as Charles II, of Hungary (1385-86); great-grandson of Charles II of Naples. Adopted as a child by Joanna I of Naples, he later lived at the court of Louis I of Hungary. In 1380, Pope Urban VI summoned Charles to dethrone Joanna because of her support of the antipope, Clement IV; Joanna repudiated...

• Cialdini, Enrico 1811-92, Italian general and diplomat. During the wars leading to Italian unification he fought in Sardinian service in the campaigns of 1848-49 and 1859 against Austria and, invading the Papal...

• Ciano, Galeazzo 1903-44, Italian foreign minister and Fascist leader; son of Admiral Costanzo Ciano, conte di Cortellazzo. He entered on a diplomatic career, married (1930) Mussolini's daughter Edda, and became...

• Colleoni, Bartolomeo 1400-1475, Italian soldier of fortune. A condottiere , Colleoni fought in the wars between Venice and Milan, often changing sides and distrusted by both. In 1454 he deserted Milan for the last time and became generalissimo of Venice, a post he held...

• Colombo, Emilio 1920-, Italian political leader. He was elected a member of the constituent assembly in 1946 and a parliamentary deputy for the Christian Democratic party in 1948. During a lengthy tenure in...

• Colonna noble Roman family that played a leading part in the history of Rome from the 12th to the 16th cent. They were hereditary enemies of the Orsini and Caetani families, generally siding with the Ghibellines, or antipapal faction, against the Guelph alliance (see Guelphs and Ghibellines ). Sciarra Colonna, d. 1329, a bitter enemy of Pope Boniface VIII , was excommunicated, fled to the court of King Philip IV of France, and led, with Chancellor Nogaret, the French expedition that captured (1303) Boniface. As senator of Rome, Sciarra supported Holy...

• Concini, Concino d. 1617, Florentine adventurer, favorite of Marie de' Medici , queen of France, who exerted great influence after the assassination of Marie's husband, Henry IV in 1610, and succeeded the duke of Sully as minister. His greed and his spy system won him the...

• Conradin 1252-68, duke of Swabia, titular king of Jerusalem and Sicily, the last legitimate Hohenstaufen , son of Holy Roman Emperor Conrad IV. While Conradin was still a child in Germany, his uncle Manfred made himself (1258) king of Sicily. When Manfred died the kingdom was seized (1266) by Charles I (Charles of Anjou). Young Conradin went to Italy in an attempt to recover his kingdom. Several cities rallied to his support, but he was defeated (1268) by Charles at Tagliacozzo. He was captured...

• Contarini ancient Venetian family, including eight doges, a cardinal, and several artists. The most celebrated member was Andrea Contarini, 1300?-1382. He was doge (1368-82) at the time of the War of Chioggia...

• Cosimo de' Medici see Medici, Cosimo de'.

• Craxi, Bettino 1934-99, Italian political leader. Craxi joined the Italian Socialist party in 1957, eventually becoming deputy secretary (1970) and general secretary (1976). As Italy's first Socialist prime...

• Crispi, Francesco 1819-1901, Italian premier (1887-91, 1893-96), b. Sicily. After participation in the Sicilian revolt of 1848 against the repressive rule of Ferdinand II of Sicily, he went into exile to Piedmont,...

• D'Alema, Massimo 1949-, Italian politician, premier (1997-2000) of Italy. A member of the Italian Communist party (PCI) since 1968, he worked as a journalist and was active in the party and its youth arm. In 1987,...

• Dandolo ancient Venetian family that produced four doges, many admirals, and other prominent citizens. Enrico Dandolo, c.1108-1205, became doge in 1192. He is considered the founder of the Venetian colonial empire. In the Fourth Crusade (see Crusades ) he acted to divert the Crusaders in 1202 to Zara (see Zadar ) and in 1203 to Constantinople. Though aged and blind, he commanded the fleet in the capture (1204) of Constantinople and secured for Venice the most valuable share of the spoils and of the...

• De Gasperi, Alcide 1881-1954, Italian premier and a founder of the Christian Democratic party. Born in the Trentino—then under Austria—he represented Italian irredentists in the Austrian parliament and after the...

• Depretis, Agostino 1813-87, Italian premier. An early supporter of the revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini, he entered the Sardinian parliament after 1848 and was a leader of the opposition to Camillo Benso di Cavour. He...

• Desiderius d. after 774, last Lombard king in Italy (756-74). The duke of Tuscany, he was chosen king with the support of the pope and of Pepin the Short, who was king of the Franks and whose son Charles...

• Diavolo, Fra see Fra Diavolo.

• Diaz, Armando 1861-1928, Italian field marshal. In World War I he replaced (1917) Cadorna as chief Italian commander. He defeated (1918) the disintegrating Austro-Hungarian army at Vittorio Veneto and concluded (Nov. 3) the armistice, based on unconditional surrender, with...

• Dietrich von Bern see Theodoric the Great.

• Doria, Andrea b. 1466 or 1468, d. 1560, Italian admiral and statesman, of an ancient family prominent in the history of Genoa. He started his career as a condottiere and in the Italian Wars fought for Francis I of France. In 1528 he fell out with Francis and went over to Charles V, Holy Roman emperor and King of Spain, under the condition that the independence of Genoa be preserved...

• Douhet, Giulio 1869-1930, Italian military officer and early advocate of airpower. He was an early supporter of strategic bombing and the military superiority of air forces. He served in World War I, organizing Italy's bombing campaign, but was court-martialed for criticizing the Italian high command by publicly declaiming Italy's aerial weakness. He was released when...

• Einaudi, Luigi 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 Univ. of Turin until 1943, when he fled to...

• Emmanuel Philibert 1528-80, duke of Savoy (1553-80), called Ironhead. He succeeded his father, Charles III, who had been dispossessed of his duchy by Francis I of France and the Swiss in 1536. Emmanuel Philibert...

• Enzio or Enzo , c.1220-72, king of Sardinia, illegitimate son of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. He married a Sardinian heiress and was made king of Sardinia by his father. In the wars between Frederick...

• Este Italian noble family, rulers of Ferrara (1240-1597) and of Modena (1288-1796) and celebrated patrons of the arts during the Renaissance. Probably of Lombard origin, they took their name from the castle of Este, near Padua. They succeeded to the house of the...

• Ezzelino da Romano 1194-1259, Italian Ghibelline leader (see Guelphs and Ghibellines ) and soldier. After 1232 a faithful supporter of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II against the pope, he held Verona, Vicenza, Padua, and other cities. When Frederick defeated (1237) the Lombard League at Cortenuova, Ezzelino became the greatest power in N Italy. He married (1238) an illegitimate daughter of Frederick. Continuously at war with the Guelphs, he was excommunicated (1254) by Pope...

• Faliero, Marino 1274-1355, doge of Venice (1354-55). As commander of Venetian forces he defeated (1346) Louis I of Hungary at Zara, and later he held high diplomatic posts. Soon after his election as doge, the...

• Fanfani, Amintore 1908-99, Italian political leader, a Christian Democrat. A noted scholar, he held several cabinet posts after World War II and was secretary of the Christian Democratic party from 1954 to 1959. He...

• Farnese Italian noble family that ruled Parma and Piacenza from 1545 to 1731. In the 12th cent. the Farnese held several fiefs in Latium. They became one of the most prominent families in Rome and were Guelph supporters of the papacy. In 1534, Alessandro Farnese became pope as Paul III. He used his office to aggrandize his family and in 1545 he detached lands from the papal dominions to create the duchy of Parma and Piacenza for his illegitimate son, Pier Luigi Farnese, 1503-47. Pier Luigi attacked fiscal and judicial abuses; he thereby gained the hatred of the nobility and was assassinated. His son, Ottavio Farnese, 1520-86, who succeeded him, married Margaret of Austria (see Margaret of Parma ), illegitimate daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Ottavio's brother, Alessandro Farnese, 1520-89, was a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. A patron of men of letters such as Pietro Bembo and of artists such as Giorgio Vasari, he oversaw the completion of the Farnese Palace in Rome. Ottavio's son and successor was Alessandro Farnese, 1545-92, one of the great generals of his time (see separate article). Alessandro's son, Ranuccio I, 1569-1622, reformed the duchy's administration and judicial system and was a benefactor of education and the arts. The four dukes who succeeded Ranuccio I were less distinguished rulers, although...

• Farnese, Alessandro 1545-92, duke of Parma and Piacenza (1586-92), general and diplomat in the service of Philip II of Spain. He was the son of Duke Ottavio Farnese and Margaret of Parma and thus a nephew of Philip...

• Farnese, Elizabeth see Elizabeth Farnese.

• Ferdinand I or Ferrante , 1423-94, king of Naples (1458-94), illegitimate son and successor (in Naples) of Alfonso V of Aragón. His succession was challenged by Pope Calixtus III, but Pope Pius II made peace with him. Ferdinand promoted commerce, industry, and education, but exercised strict royal control. The...

• Ferdinand I 1751-1825, king of the Two Sicilies (1816-25). He had previously been king of Naples (1759-99, 1799-1805, 1815-16) as Ferdinand IV and king of Sicily (1759-1816) as Ferdinand III. A Spanish...

• Ferdinand II 1810-59, king of the Two Sicilies (1830-59), son and successor of Francis I. Although initially he sought to improve the wretched conditions of his kingdom, he soon relapsed into the repressive...

• Ferdinand IV king of Naples: see Ferdinand I , king of the Two Sicilies.

• Ferrante see Ferdinand I , king of Naples.

• Ferrero, Guglielmo 1871-1942, Italian man of letters and historian. With his father-in-law, the criminologist Cesare Lombroso , he collaborated in the writing of La donna delinquente (1893, tr. The Female Offender, 1895). His interest in psychology and sociology permeates his writings. An outspoken critic of Fascism, Ferrero was exiled by Benito Mussolini and became (1930) professor of history at the Univ. of...

• Fra Diavolo [Ital.,=friar devil], 1771-1806, Italian bandit and soldier, whose real name was Michele Pezza. He entered the service of the king of Naples in 1798 and with Cardinal Ruffo resisted the French...

• Francis I 1777-1830, king of the Two Sicilies (1825-30), son and successor of Ferdinand I. He continued the ruthless and reactionary policy of his father, and his court was notorious for waste and...

• Francis II 1836-94, last king of the Two Sicilies (1859-61), son and successor of Ferdinand II. A weak ruler, he let his ministers follow his father's reactionary policy. Faced with the growing movement for...

• Frederick II 1272-1337, king of Sicily (1296-1337), 3d son of Peter III of Aragón. When his brother, who was king of Sicily, became (1291) king of Aragón as James II , Frederick was his regent in Sicily. In 1295 James renounced Sicily in favor of the Angevin king of Naples, Charles II , but the Sicilians rebelled and crowned Frederick. A war ensued in which Frederick fought his own brother, now Charles's ally. In the Peace of Caltabellotta (1302) Charles and Pope Boniface VIII...

• Garibaldi, Giuseppe 1807-82, Italian patriot and soldier, a leading figure in the Risorgimento. He remains perhaps the most popular of all Italian heroes of the Risorgimento, and a great revolutionary hero in the Western...

• Gasperi, Alcide de see De Gasperi, Alcide.

• Gattinara, Mercurino Arborio, marchese di 1465-1530, Italian statesman and jurist, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. After a distinguished legal career in his native Piedmont, he served Margaret of Austria as counselor. In 1518 he was...

• Gherardesca, Ugolino della see Ugolino della Gherardesca.

• Gioberti, Vincenzo 1801-52, Italian philosopher and political writer, b. Turin. Ordained (1825) a priest, he went into exile (1833-48) in Paris and Brussels because of his liberal political ideas. His treatise The Civil and Moral Primacy of the Italians (1843), an influential exposition of Italian nationalism and the need for papal political leadership, brought Gioberti recognition as an advocate of the primacy of religion in civilization. In 1848...

• Giolitti, Giovanni 1842-1928, Italian public official, five times premier (1892-93, 1903-5, 1906-9, 1911-14, 1920-21). He entered parliament in 1882 and served (1889-90) as minister of finance before becoming...

• Giovanni delle Bande Nere see Medici, Giovanni de'.

• Gonzaga Italian princely house that ruled Mantua (1328-1708), Montferrat (1536-1708), and Guastalla (1539-1746). The family name is derived from the castle of Gonzaga, a village near Mantua. Luigi Gonzaga, 1267-1360, became captain general of Mantua in 1328. The power of his descendants grew in the 14th cent., and in 1433, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund made Gian Francesco Gonzaga, 1395-1444, marquis of Mantua. His grandson, Francesco Gonzaga, 1466-1519, married Isabella d' Este. At the outset of the Italian Wars , in which Spain and France vied for control of Italy, he led the allied troops that defeated (1495) King Charles VIII of France at Fornovo. In order to preserve the independence of Mantua,...

• Gramsci, Antonio 1891-1937, Italian political leader and theoretician. Originally a member of the Socialist party and a cofounder (1919) of the left-wing paper L'Ordine Nuovo, Gramsci helped to establish (1921) the Italian Communist party. When Benito Mussolini outlawed the party, Gramsci was imprisoned (1926-37). His posthumously published prison writings, Lettere del carcere (1947), present his theory of hegemony, which explains how a dominant class controls society and emphasizes a less dogmatic form of Communism that many intellectuals preferred to the increasingly...

• Graziani, Rodolfo 1882-1955, Italian soldier and colonial administrator. After serving in World War I and in Libya (1921-33), he was made (1935) governor of Italian Somaliland. For his part in the Italo-Ethiopian...

• Gronchi, Giovanni 1887-1978, Italian political leader. He entered parliament in 1919 as a member of the new Popular party. When Benito Mussolini seized power in 1922 and formed a coalition ministry, Gronchi became...

• Guerrazzi, Francesco Domenico 1804-73, Italian patriot and writer, b. Livorno. A radical republican and nationalist, he was repeatedly imprisoned for his activities in the Risorgimento. He became minister and dictator (1848-49) of Tuscany in the government established there during the revolution of 1848, and after its fall he was exiled until 1859. After the unification of Italy...

• Guiscard Norman rulers in Sicily: see Robert Guiscard ; Roger I.

• Hawkwood, Sir John de d. 1394, English soldier. He fought in the French wars of Edward III and was knighted, although it is not known when or where. With his "white company" of mercenaries, he entered (1362) Italy and became a condottiere. He served sometimes one republic, sometimes another, but he was employed most regularly by Florence, where he died. The cathedral in Florence contains an equestrian portrait of Hawkwood by Paolo...

• Humbert I 1844-1900, king of Italy (1878-1900), son and successor of Victor Emmanuel II. A soldier by training, Humbert showed interest primarily in military affairs and foreign policy, and early...

• Humbert II 1904-83, last king of Italy (1946), son and successor of Victor Emmanuel III. On the abdication (May, 1946) of his father, who was tainted by his long acquiescence (1922-43) to Fascist rule,...

• Joanna I 1326-82, queen of Naples (1343-81), countess of Provence. She was the granddaughter of King Robert of Naples, whom she succeeded with her husband, Andrew of Hungary. The murder (1345) of Andrew at...

• Joanna II 1371-1435, queen of Naples (1414-35), sister and successor of Lancelot. The intrigues of her favorites kept her court in turmoil. Her second husband, James of Bourbon, tried to seize power but was imprisoned in 1416. Threatened (1420) by the Angevin claimant to Naples, Louis III , Joanna asked the aid of Alfonso V of Aragón in expelling Louis; she adopted (1421) Alfonso as her heir. After Alfonso attempted to take over Naples she transferred (1423) the adoption to Louis. Louis died (1434) after regaining...

• John of Procida c.1225-c.1302, Italian conspirator, lord of the island of Procida. He was an ardent supporter of the Hohenstaufen cause in Sicily and attempted to secure the island for Manfred and Conradin against the claims of Charles of Anjou, who was given Sicily by the pope. After Manfred's defeat and Conradin's execution (1268) by Charles, John went into exile at the court of Manfred's...

• La Marmora distinguished Italian noble family. Its best-known member was Alfonso Ferrero, marchese della Marmora, 1804-78, general and political leader. He fought for Sardinia against Austria in the wars of 1848-49 and 1859, completely reorganized the Sardinian army, and led (1855-56) the Sardinian...

• Ladislaus king of Naples: see Lancelot.

• Lancelot or Ladislaus , c.1376-1414, king of Naples (1386-1414), son and successor of Charles III. Almost his entire reign was consumed by his struggle with the Angevin rival king of Naples, Louis II ,...

• Lauria, Roger of see Roger of Loria.

• Leopold I grand duke of Tuscany: see Leopold II , Holy Roman emperor.

• Leopold II 1797-1870, grand duke of Tuscany (1824-59). Liberally inclined at first, he granted some reforms and undertook public works. In 1848 he approved a constitution and joined Sardinia in its war...

• Longo, Luigi 1900-1980, Italian political leader. He was a founder of the Italian Communist party in 1921. In the Spanish civil war he served as inspector-general of the international brigades and fought...

• Loria, Roger of see Roger of Loria.

• Louis I 1339-84, king of Naples (1382-84; rival claimant to Charles III ), duke of Anjou, count of Provence, second son of John II of France. He founded the second Angevin line in Naples. As a regent for his nephew, Charles VI of France, he was noted for his rapacity. In 1380, Joanna I of Naples adopted Louis as heir to the throne and to Provence, repudiating her first choice, Charles of Durazzo. Charles, supported by his uncle, Pope Urban VI, conquered the kingdom (1381) and was...

• Louis II 1377-1417, king of Naples (1384-1417), duke of Anjou, count of Provence, son and successor of Louis I of Naples. In 1389 the antipope Clement VII (Robert of Geneva) invested him with the kingdom, Lancelot , rival claimant of Naples, having been expelled in 1386. Louis took possession of Naples in 1390, but he was ousted in turn by Lancelot in 1399. In 1409, Louis liberated Rome from Lancelot's...

• Louis III 1403-34, king of Naples (1417-34; rival claimant to Joanna II ), duke of Anjou, count of Provence, son and successor of Louis II. He invaded Naples in 1420. Queen Joanna called in the aid of Alfonso V of Aragón and Sicily and adopted him as heir (1421), but Alfonso's domineering attitude caused her (1423) to adopt Louis instead. Louis had gained control of most of the kingdom when he died...

• Luria, Roger of see Roger of Loria.

• Luzzatti, Luigi 1841-1927, Italian political leader and economist. As minister of finance in several cabinets and as premier (1910-11) he promoted liberal legislation and was noted especially for his advocacy of...

• Malatesta Italian family, ruling Rimini and nearby cities for almost 300 years from the 13th to 16th cent. Malatesta da Verucchio (d. 1312), a powerful Guelph leader, became (1239) podestà, or chief magistrate, of Rimini and used this...

• Mancini, Pasquale Stanislao 1817-88, Italian jurist and public official. After taking part in the Revolution of 1848 in Naples he fled to Turin, where he later became (1860) a deputy in the parliament. He was minister of...

• Manfred c.1232-1266, king of Sicily (1258-66), the last Hohenstaufen on that throne. An illegitimate son of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, Manfred was regent in Sicily for his brother Conrad IV. Conrad died in 1254, and Manfred seized the regency for Conrad's young son, Conradin. However, Pope Innocent IV and his successors, Alexander IV and Urban IV , were determined to stamp out the Hohenstaufen. Papal forces invaded Sicily, and Manfred was forced to restore (1254) the kingdom to the papacy, retaining only the duchy of Taranto in fief from the...

• Manin, Daniele 1804-57, Venetian leader of the movement to free N Italy from Austrian rule. His father, a Jew, was converted to Christianity and took the name of his patrons, the illustrious Venetian family of...

• Marie Caroline 1752-1814, queen of Naples, consort of Ferdinand IV (later Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies), daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Maria Theresa, and sister of Queen Marie Antoinette of France. She was married to Ferdinand, son of Charles III of Spain, in 1768...

• Masaniello 1620?-1647, Neapolitan revolutionist, whose original name was Tommaso Aniello. A fisherman, he led a revolt of the lower classes, burdened by high taxes, against the Spanish rulers of Naples...

• Matilda 1046-1115, countess of Tuscany, called the Great Countess; supporter of Pope Gregory VII in the papal conflict with the Holy Roman emperors. Ruling over Tuscany and parts of Emilia-Romagna and...

• Mattei, Enrico 1906-62, Italian public administrator. After World War II he was given the task of dismantling the Italian Petroleum Agency, a Fascist state enterprise. Instead Mattei enlarged and reorganized it...

• Matteotti, Giacomo 1885-1924, Italian Socialist leader; the outstanding opponent of the Fascist regime during its early days. He was a member of parliament, and his murder by Fascist hirelings precipitated a...

• Mazzini, Giuseppe 1805-72, Italian patriot and revolutionist, an outstanding figure of the Risorgimento. His youth was spent in literary and philosophical studies. He early joined the Carbonari , was imprisoned briefly, and went into exile. In Marseilles he founded the secret society Giovine Italia [young Italy], which led a vigorous campaign for Italian unity under a republican...

• Medici Italian family that directed the destinies of Florence from the 15th cent. until 1737. Of obscure origin, they rose to immense wealth as merchants and bankers, became affiliated through marriage with the major houses of Europe, and, besides acquiring...

• Medici, Alessandro de' 1510?-37, duke of Florence (1532-37); probably an illegitimate son of Lorenzo de' Medici, duke of Urbino. His prominence began when Pope Clement VII , then head of the Medici family succeeded (1530) in restoring the Medici to power in Florence after a three-year banishment. With Clement's support Alessandro was made head of the republic (1531)...

• Medici, Cosimo de' 1389-1464, Italian merchant prince, first of the Medici family to rule Florence. He is often called Cosimo the Elder. After the death of his father, Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, Cosimo and his family were banished (1433) from Florence by a faction...

• Medici, Cosimo I de' 1519-74, duke of Florence (1537-69), grand duke of Tuscany (1569-74); son of Giovanni de' Medici (Giovanni delle Bande Nere). In 1537, Lorenzino de' Medici murdered Cosimo's predecessor, Alessandro de' Medici, and fled from Florence, leaving the succession to Cosimo. Cosimo, despite promises to the contrary, assumed absolute authority as soon as he...

• Medici, Cosimo II de' 1590-1621, grand duke of Tuscany (1609-21); son and successor of Ferdinand I de' Medici. Although Cosimo played a role in the War of the Mantuan Succession, he generally avoided intervention in...

• Medici, Cosimo III de' 1642-1723, grand duke of Tuscany (1670-1723); son and successor of Ferdinand II de' Medici. During his long reign the government of Tuscany degenerated into bigoted and corrupt despotism. His son...

• Medici, Ferdinand I de' 1549-1609, grand duke of Tuscany (1587-1609); brother and successor of Francesco de' Medici. He was made a cardinal in his youth, and he built the famous Villa Medici at Rome. To become grand duke...

• Medici, Francesco de' 1541-87, grand duke of Tuscany (1574-87); son and successor of Cosimo I de' Medici. In his reign the decline of the Medici family began. He allowed the Austrian and Spanish branches of the house...

• Medici, Gian Gastone de' 1671-1737, grand duke of Tuscany (1723-37); son and successor of Cosimo III de' Medici. Gian Gastone was the last male member of his family, and the question of succession caused agitation from...

• Medici, Giovanni de' or Giovanni delle Bande Nere [Ital.,=of the black bands], 1498-1526, Italian condottiere; great-grandson of Lorenzo de' Medici (d. 1440, brother of Cosimo de' Medici, 1389-1464). The son of Caterina Sforza (see under Sforza , family), he was trained from childhood for the military life, and in 1516 his relative Pope Leo X gave him command of a troop. He soon won great reputation as a military leader. His nickname was...

• Medici, Giuliano de' 1479-1516, duke of Nemours (1515-16); younger son of Lorenzo de' Medici (Lorenzo il Magnifico) and brother of Pope Leo X. He entered Florence in 1512 when the Holy League restored his family to...

• Medici, Ippolito de' 1511-35, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church; an illegitimate son of Giuliano de' Medici, duke of Nemours. Pope Clement VII , head of the Medici family, ruled Florence through Ippolito, Ippolito's cousin, Alessandro de' Medici, and Cardinal Silvio Passerini. Clement increasingly favored Alessandro, and in 1531 he made...

• Medici, Lorenzino de' 1515-47, member of the cadet branch of the Medici family. A boon companion of Alessandro de' Medici , he secretly plotted the duke's murder—possibly out of republican convictions. With a hired assassin, he stabbed Alessandro to death (1537) and fled to Venice, where he was eventually assassinated...

• Medici, Lorenzo de' 1449-92, Italian merchant prince, called Lorenzo il Magnifico [the magnificent]. He succeeded (1469) his father, Piero de' Medici, as head of the Medici family and as virtual ruler of Florence...

• Medici, Lorenzo de' 1492-1519, duke of Urbino (1516-19); son of Piero de' Medici. His uncle, Pope Leo X , made the youthful Lorenzo duke of Urbino. After his early death, however, Urbino reverted (1521) to the Della Rovere...

• Medici, Piero de' 1416-69, Italian merchant prince. He succeeded his father, Cosimo de' Medici, as head of the Medici family and as leader of the Florentine state. His ill health earned him the nickname Il Gottoso...

• Medici, Piero de' 1471-1503, Italian merchant prince. He succeeded his father, Lorenzo de' Medici (Lorenzo il Magnifico), as head of the Medici family and as leader of the Florentine state. In 1494 he surrendered...

• Minghetti, Marco 1818-86, Italian political leader. A former papal minister, Minghetti—a liberal conservative—became a supporter of Italian unification as a result of his association with Count Cavour , under whom he served in the foreign office of the kingdom of Sardinia and as minister of the interior. He became premier in 1863 but was forced to resign the following year over questions of...

• Moneta, Ernesto Teodoro 1833-1918, Italian editor and pacifist; winner of the 1907 Nobel Peace Prize. He joined the movement for Italian unification, serving (1859-66) with Garibaldi. From 1867 he devoted himself to the...

• Montecucculi, Raimondo, conte di 1609-80, Italian military commander in the service of the Holy Roman Empire. He distinguished himself in the Thirty Years War and was later sent to Hungary to take the field against the Ottomans...

• Montefeltro Italian noble family. Its members were noted patrons of art and traditionally opposed the papacy in the struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines. The county of Montefeltro (created c.1154) included...

• Moro, Aldo 1916-78, Italian political leader. A lawyer, he entered national politics in 1946, when he was elected to the constituent assembly as a member of the Christian Democratic party. As minister of...

• Morosini, Francesco 1618-94, Italian soldier, doge of Venice (1688-94), of a family distinguished in Venice for five centuries. Made (1657) captain general of the fleet in a war with the Ottomans (1651-61), he...

• Mussolini, Benito 1883-1945, Italian dictator and leader of the Fascist movement.

• Nenni, Pietro 1891-1980, Italian journalist and political leader. He was imprisoned in 1911 for his participation in the protest movement against the Italo-Turkish war in Libya. He joined the Socialist party in...

• Nitti, Francesco Saverio 1868-1953, Italian premier and economist. A professor of economics at the Univ. of Naples, he entered parliament in 1904 and was minister of agriculture (1911-14) and of finance (1917-19). In 1919...

• Orlando, Vittorio Emanuele 1860-1952, Italian statesman and jurist. He held several cabinet posts from 1903 to 1917 and was premier from 1917 to 1919. At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, he demanded the fulfillment of...

• Orsini powerful Roman family that included three popes and numerous other churchmen, soldiers and statesmen. The eponymous ancestor was one Ursus. Giacinto Orsini, who became Pope Celestine III in 1191,...

• Orsini, Felice 1819-58, Italian patriot who attempted to assassinate the French emperor Napoleon III. He was a follower of Mazzini in the movement for Italian unification. As a young man he became an active...

• Ossoli, Marchesa see Fuller, Margaret.

• Paoli, Pasquale 1725-1807, Corsican patriot. He shared the exile (1739-55) of his father, Giacinto Paoli, who had fought against the Genoese rulers of the island. In 1755 he returned to Corsica, led a successful...

• Parma, Alessandro Farnese, duca di see Farnese, Alessandro.

• Pescara, Ferdinando Francesco d'Avalos, marchese di 1490?-1525, Spanish-Neapolitan general in the Italian Wars. He served Charles V, Holy Roman emperor and king of Spain, and was chiefly responsible for the brilliant Spanish victory over Francis I...

• Procida, John of see John of Procida.

• Prodi, Romano 1939-, Italian politician, premier of Italy (1996-98, 2006-), b. Scandiano. Educated at the Catholic Univ. of Milan (grad. 1961), he is a trained economist and served (1978-79) as Italy's minister...

• Rattazzi, Urbano 1808-73, Italian premier (1862, 1867). A leader of the left in the Sardinian parliament, he was briefly (1849) minister of the interior and later held cabinet posts as a strong supporter of Cavour...

• René 1409-80, king of Naples (1435-80; rival claimant to Alfonso V of Aragón and Ferdinand I of Naples), duke of Anjou, Bar, and Lorraine, count of Provence. He was also called René of Anjou and Good King René. The second son of King Louis II of Naples, he was count of Guise when he...

• Ricasoli, Bettino, Barone 1809-80, Italian political leader. An active propagandist for Italian unity, he became (1859) head of the provisional government of Tuscany after the flight of Grand Duke Leopold II. As a result of his skillful policy the annexation of Tuscany to the kingdom of Sardinia, which had taken the lead in the unification movement, was overwhelmingly voted in the plebiscite of 1860...

• Rienzi, Cola di 1313?-1354, Roman popular leader. In 1343 on a mission to Pope Clement VI at Avignon, he won the papal confidence. While there he befriended Petrarch. Returning to Rome as papal votary, he won...

• Robert Guiscard c.1015-1085, Norman conqueror of S Italy, a son of Tancred de Hauteville (see Normans ). Robert joined (c.1046) his brothers in S Italy and fought with them to expel the Byzantines. In 1057 he succeeded his brother Humphrey as count of Apulia, and in 1059 Pope Nicholas II invested...

• Roger I (Roger Guiscard), c.1031-1101, Norman conqueror of Sicily; son of Tancred de Hauteville (see Normans ). He went to Italy in 1058 to join his brother, Robert Guiscard , in conquering Apulia and Calabria from the Byzantines. Between 1061 and 1091 he took Sicily from the Arabs. After the fall (1072) of Palermo he became count of Sicily under Robert's suzerainty...

• Roger II c.1095-1154, count (1101-30) and first king (1130-54) of Sicily, son and successor of Roger I. He conquered (1127) Apulia and Salerno and sided with the antipope Anacletus II against Pope Innocent II. In 1130, Anacletus crowned Roger king. Innocent rallied Holy Roman Emperor Lothair II and other allies against Roger but was defeated in 1139. Naples and Capua recognized Roger's sovereignty;...

• Roger of Loria c.1245-1304, Sicilian-Aragonese admiral. An adherent of Manfred , last Hohenstaufen king of Sicily, he left Sicily for Aragón after Manfred's defeat (1266) by the Angevin claimant to the throne. There he held posts under Manfred's son-in-law, King Peter III. Peter was chosen king of Sicily after the Sicilian Vespers (1282), and in his service Roger commanded the Aragonese fleet in the long war against the Angevin rulers of Naples for possession of Sicily. He defeated the Angevins at Malta (1283) and in the Bay...

• Rosamond fl. c.570, wife of the Lombard king Alboin. The daughter of King Kunimund of the Gepidae, a Germanic people, she was captured by Alboin, who had defeated and killed her father. When Alboin forced her to drink from a cup made from her...

• Rossi, Pellegrino Luigi Edoardo, Conte 1787-1848, Italian political leader and jurist. As a supporter of Joachim Murat , Rossi was obliged to flee Italy (1815) when Murat fell. He went first to Geneva, where he became a noted professor of law and an active politician, then to Paris (1833), where he taught at the...

• Rudinì, Antonio Starrabba, marchese di 1839-1908, Italian political leader. A Sicilian revolutionist, he was mayor of Palermo (1864), prefect of Naples (1868), minister of the interior (1869), and twice premier (1891-92, 1896-98) as...

• Ruffo, Fabrizio 1744-1827, Neapolitan general, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. In the French Revolutionary Wars he led the royal Neapolitan army against the Parthenopean Republic , set up at Naples under French protection. Possibly exceeding his authority, he promised the republicans full immunity from reprisals and obtained their surrender in June, 1799. Even before Naples...

• Rumor, Mariano 1915-90, Italian politician. A Christian Democrat, he was premier (1968-69, 1969-70, 1973-74) and foreign minister (1974-76). He was mentioned (1976) in the Lockheed Corp. bribery scandal and...

• Salandra, Antonio 1853-1931, Italian premier (1914-16). He entered parliament as a moderate conservative (1886), held various cabinet posts from 1891 to 1910, and succeeded Giolitti as premier in 1914. He initially...

• Santarosa, Santorre Annibale De Rossi di Pomarolo, conte di 1783-1825, Italian revolutionary. Hoping to establish a constitutional monarchy under Charles Albert , heir to the throne of Sardinia, he organized an unsuccessful revolution in Piedmont in 1821. He...