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Samnites

(Encyclopedia)Samnites sămˈnīts [key], people of ancient Italy. Their country was Samnium. The Samnites were Oscan-speaking and therefore should be included among the Sabelli. The Tabula Agnonensis, a bronze tab...

Beauharnais, Eugène de

(Encyclopedia)Beauharnais, Eugène de də bōärnāˈ [key], 1781–1824, French general; son of Alexandre and Josephine de Beauharnais (Empress Josephine). He served ably in the campaigns of his stepfather, Napol...

Vergil, Polydore

(Encyclopedia)Vergil or Virgil, Polydore, 1470?-1555?, historian and humanist, b. Urbino, Italy. He studied at Bologna and Padua, served as secretary to the duke of Urbino, was chamberlain to Pope Alexander VI, and...

Pontine Marshes

(Encyclopedia)Pontine Marshes pŏnˈtēn, –tīn [key], Ital. Pontina, low-lying region, c.300 sq mi (780 sq km), in S Latium, central Italy, between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Apennine foothills; it is crossed by...

Axis

(Encyclopedia)Axis, coalition of countries headed by Germany, Italy, and Japan, 1936–45 (see World War II). The expression “Rome-Berlin axis” originated in Oct., 1936, with an accord reached by Hitler and Mus...

Pascoli, Giovanni

(Encyclopedia)Pascoli, Giovanni jōvänˈnē päˈskōlē [key], 1855–1912, Italian poet. Pascoli's childhood was marked by a series of tragedies: the deaths of his parents and of five of his brothers and sisters...

intarsia

(Encyclopedia)intarsia ĭntärˈsēə [key] or tarsia, properly a form of wood inlaying. The term is sometimes applied to inlays of other materials such as ivory and metal. It is differentiated from marquetry by th...

Brescia

(Encyclopedia)Brescia brāˈshä [key], city, capital of Brescia prov., Lombardy, N Italy. It is a commerci...

Cabrini, Saint Frances Xavier

(Encyclopedia)Cabrini, Saint Frances Xavier zāˈvyər kəbrēˈnē [key], 1850–1917, American nun, founder of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, b. near Lodi, Italy. Founded in Italy in 1880, h...

Vitellius, Aulus

(Encyclopedia)Vitellius, Aulus ôˈləs vĭtĕlˈēəs [key], a.d. 15–a.d. 69, Roman emperor (a.d. 69). He was made commander of the legions on the lower Rhine by Galba in a.d. 68. On Galba's death he was proclai...