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Metastasio, Pietro

(Encyclopedia)Metastasio, Pietro pyĕˈtrō mātästäˈzēō [key], 1698–1782, Italian poet and librettist, whose original name was Antonio Bonaventura Trapassi. A prodigy at poetic improvisation, he became cour...

Gasparri, Pietro

(Encyclopedia)Gasparri, Pietro pyĕˈtrō gäspärˈrē [key], 1852–1934, Italian churchman, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He taught canon law at the Catholic Institute in Paris (1879–98) and was apost...

Pietro d'Abano

(Encyclopedia)Pietro d'Abano: see Abano, Pietro d'. ...

Valle, Pietro della

(Encyclopedia)Valle, Pietro della pyĕˈtrō dĕlˈlä välˈlā [key], 1586–1652, Italian traveler in Asia. He sailed (1614) from Venice; spent a year in Constantinople, where he studied Turkish and Arabic; then...

Gaulli, Giovanni Battista

(Encyclopedia)Gaulli, Giovanni Battista jōvänˈnē bät-tēsˈtä gäo͞olˈlē [key], 1639–1709, Italian painter, called Baciccia or Baciccio. He was noted for his airy, illusionistic frescoes, his figures of ...

Lorenzo di Pietro

(Encyclopedia)Lorenzo di Pietro pyāˈtrō [key], c.1412–1480, Sienese painter, sculptor, and goldsmith, called Il Vecchietta. He painted a group of frescoes and a relic press in the hospital at Siena; four ceili...

Secchi, Pietro Angelo

(Encyclopedia)Secchi, Pietro Angelo pyĕˈtrō änˈjālō sĕkˈkē [key], 1818–78, Italian astronomer, a Jesuit priest. He was director of the observatory of the Gregorian Univ., Rome, from 1849. He is known es...

Cavalli, Pietro Francesco

(Encyclopedia)Cavalli, Pietro Francesco pyĕˈtrō fränchĕsˈkō kävälˈlē [key], 1602–76, Italian composer, whose real name was Caletti-Bruni; pupil of Monteverdi, whom he succeeded as choirmaster of St. Ma...

Sacchi, Andrea

(Encyclopedia)Sacchi, Andrea ändrĕˈä säkˈkē [key], 1599–1661, Italian baroque painter, b. Rome. He studied in Rome and in Bologna under Francesco Albani. His masterpiece, an allegory of Divine Wisdom (c.16...

Abano, Pietro d'

(Encyclopedia)Abano, Pietro d' pyāˈtrō däˈbänō [key], 1250?–1316?, Italian physician and philosopher, a professor of medicine in Padua. His famous work Conciliator differentiarum was an attempt to reconcil...