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Rore, Cipriano de

(Encyclopedia)Rore, Cipriano de sēprēäˈnō dā rōˈrə [key], c.1516–65, Flemish composer. Much of his mature life was spent in Italy, where his some 120 madrigals, for four and five voices, were admired and...

Rubicon

(Encyclopedia)Rubicon ro͞oˈbĭkŏn [key], Lat. Rubico, small stream that flows into the Adriatic and in Roman times marked the boundary between Cisalpine Gaul and ancient Italy. In 49 b.c., after some hesitation,...

Bargello

(Encyclopedia)Bargello bärjĕlˈlō [key], 13th-century palace in Florence, Italy, which houses the national museum. Once the residence of the highest city official, but later used as a prison and as the office of...

Savona

(Encyclopedia)Savona sävôˈnä [key], city (1991 pop. 67,177), capital of Savona prov., in Liguria, NW Italy, on the Riviera. It is a major seaport and an industrial center. Manufactures include metals, machinery...

degree, academic

(Encyclopedia)degree, academic, title bestowed upon a student on the fulfillment of certain requirements or given as an honor to an eminent person. The practice of awarding degrees originated in the universities of...

Fermi, Enrico

(Encyclopedia)Fermi, Enrico ĕnrēˈkō fĕrˈmē [key], 1901–54, American physicist, b. Italy. He studied at Pisa, Göttingen, and Leiden, and taught physics at the universities of Florence and Rome. He contribu...

Malaspina, Alejandro

(Encyclopedia)Malaspina, Alejandro or Alessandro älāhänˈdrō mäläspēˈnä; älās-sänˈdrō [key], 1754–1810, Italian-Spanish naval officer and explorer, b. Mulazzo, Italy. From a minor N Italian noble fa...

Magna Graecia

(Encyclopedia)Magna Graecia măgˈnə grēˈshə [key] [Lat.,=great Greece], Greek colonies of S Italy. The Greek overseas expansion of the 8th cent. b.c. founded a number of towns that became the centers of a new,...

Lepidus

(Encyclopedia)Lepidus lĕpˈĭdəs [key], family of the ancient Roman patrician gens Aemilia. Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, d. 152 b.c., was a consul in 187 and 175 b.c., a censor in 179 b.c., and pontifex maximus [high...

Leopardi, Giacomo

(Encyclopedia)Leopardi, Giacomo jäˈkōmō lāōpärˈdē [key], 1798–1837, Italian poet and scholar, considered Italy's outstanding 19th-century poet. An intellectual prodigy, he taught himself Hebrew and ancie...

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