Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Rattazzi, Urbano

(Encyclopedia)Rattazzi, Urbano o͞orbäˈnō rät-tätˈtsē [key], 1808–73, Italian premier (1862, 1867). A leader of the left in the Sardinian parliament, he was briefly (1849) minister of the interior and late...

Black Shirts

(Encyclopedia)Black Shirts, colloquial term originally used to refer to the members of the Fasci di combattimento, units of the Fascist organization founded in Italy in Mar., 1919, by Benito Mussolini. A black shir...

Piranesi, Giovanni Battista

(Encyclopedia)Piranesi, Giovanni Battista jōvänˈnē bät-tēˈstä pēränāˈzē [key], 1720–78, Italian etcher and architect. The greater part of his life was spent in Rome, where he made etchings of the bui...

orientation

(Encyclopedia)orientation, in architecture, the disposition of the parts of a building with reference to the points of the compass. From remote antiquity the traditional belief in the efficacy of religious ceremoni...

Polybius

(Encyclopedia)Polybius pōlĭˈbēəs [key], 203? b.c.–c.120 b.c., Greek historian, b. Megalopolis. As one of the leaders of the Achaean League and a friend of Philopoemen, he was influential in Greek politics. H...

Mont Blanc

(Encyclopedia)Mont Blanc môN bläN [key], Alpine massif, on the French-Italian border, SE of Geneva. One of its several peaks, also called Mont Blanc (15,771 ft/4,807 m), is the highest peak in France and the seco...

Carriera, Rosalba

(Encyclopedia)Carriera, Rosalba rōzälˈbä kär-rēāˈrä [key], 1675–1757, Italian portrait and miniature painter, one of the greatest of her day. At 24 she had achieved a reputation throughout Italy and abro...

Messina

(Encyclopedia)Messina mās-sēˈnä [key], city (1991 pop. 231,693), capital of Messina prov., NE Sicily, Italy, on the Strait of Messina, opposite the Italian mainland. It is a busy seaport and a commercial and li...

Campania

(Encyclopedia)Campania kämpäˈnyä [key], region, 5,249 sq mi (13,595 sq km), central Italy, extending from ...

Gombos, Julius

(Encyclopedia)Gombos, Julius gömˈbösh [key], Hung. Gömbös Gyula, 1886–1936, Hungarian premier and officer. He was minister of war under the premiership of Stephen Bethlen (1921–31) and of Julius Károlyi (...