There have been thousands of celebrated Italian painters throughout history and they are far too numerous to list. These are just some of the most notable ones, listed according to date of birth.
13th Century
Cimabue (c. 1240-1302)
Duccio (c. 1255 - c. 1319)
Giotto (c. 1267-1337)
Pietro Cavallini (c. 1240 – c. 1330)
Bernardo Daddi (c. 1280-1348)
Pietro Lorenzetti (c. 1280 - c. 1348)
Simone Martini (c. 1284-1344)
Taddeo Gaddi (c. 1290-1366)
Ambrogio Lorenzetti (c. 1290-1348)
Lippo Memmi (c. 1291 - 1356)
14th century
Gentile da Fabriano (c. 1370-1427)
Cennino Cennini (1370-1427)
Masolino da Panicale (c. 1383 - c. 1440)
Pisanello (c. 1390 - c. 1455)
Fra Angelico (c. 1395-1445)
Jacopo Bellini (c. 1396 - c. 1470)
Paolo Uccello (1397-1475)
Giovanni di Paolo (1398-1482)
Sassetta (c. 1400-1450)
15th century
Masaccio (1401-1428)
Filippo Lippi (1406-1469)
Sano di Pietro (1406–1481)
Domenico Veneziano (1410-1461)
Vecchietta (1410-1480)
Piero della Francesca (1416-1492)
Benozzo Gozzoli (c. 1420-1497)
Andrea del Castagno (c. 1421-1457)
Pesellino (c. 1422-1457)
Gentile Bellini (1429-1507)
Carlo Crivelli (c. 1430-1495)
Antonello da Messina (1430-1479)
Antonio del Pollaiuolo (c. 1431-1498)
Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506)
Cosmè Tura (c. 1433-1495)
Giovanni Bellini (c. 1433-1516)
Andrea del Verrocchio (c. 1435-1488)
Francesco del Cossa (1436-1478)
Melozzo da Forlì (1438-1494)
Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439-1501)
Cosimo Rosselli (1439-1507)
Vittore Crivelli (c. 1440-1501/1502)
Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510)
Perugino (c. 1448-1523)
Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494)
Luca Signorelli (c. 1450-1523)
Ercole de' Roberti (c. 1451-1496)
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
Pinturicchio (1454-1513)
Filippino Lippi (1457-1504)
Cima da Conegliano (c. 1459/1460-1517/1518)
Lorenzo Costa (1460-1535)
Piero di Cosimo (c. 1461-1522)
Vittore Carpaccio (c. 1465-1525/1526)
Bramantino (c. 1465-1530)
Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio (1467-1516)
Moretto (1468 - c. 1564)
Dosso Dossi (1474-1542)
Domenico di Pace Beccafumi (1486-1551)
Fra Bartolomeo (1472-1517)
Mariotto Albertinelli (1474-1515)
Gaudenzio Ferrari (c. 1475/1480-1546)
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)
Giorgione (c. 1478-1510)
Jacopo Palma il Vecchio (c. 1480-1528)
Lorenzo Lotto (c. 1480-1556/1557)
Bernardino Luini (c. 1481-1532)
Benvenuto Tisi (1481-1559)
Raffaello Sanzio or Raphael (1483-1520)
Romanino (c. 1484 - c. 1566)
Sebastiano del Piombo (1485-1547)
Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530)
Tiziano or Titian (1488-1576)
Correggio (1489-1534)
Baccio Bandinelli (1493-1560)
Pontormo (1494-1557)
Rosso Fiorentino (1495-1540)
Ambrogio Benzone (c. 1495-1550)
Giulio Romano (1499-1546)
Paris Bordone (1500-1571)
16th century
Parmigianino (1503-1540)
Bronzino (1503-1572)
Francesco Primaticcio (1504-1570)
Daniele da Volterra (1509-1566)
Niccolò dell'Abbate (c. 1510-1571)
Andrea Meldolla (c. 1510/1515-1563)
Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574)
Jacopo Bassano (c. 1515-1592)
Tintoretto (1518-1594)
Giovan Battista Moroni (1522-1578)
Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1526-1593)
Paolo Veronese (1528-1588)
Federico Barocci (1528-1612)
Sofonisba Anguissola (1532-1625)
Jacopo Palma il Giovane (c. 1548/1550-1628)
Alessandro Allori (1535-1607)
Federico Zuccari (1539-1609)
Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614)
Ludovico Carracci (1555-1619)
Agostino Carracci (1557-1602)
Cigoli (1559-1613)
Annibale Carracci (1560-1609)
Orazio Gentileschi (1563-1639)
Giovanni Baglione (1566-1643)
Caravaggio (1571-1610)
Guido Reni (1575-1642)
Cristofano Allori (1577-1621)
Francesco Albani (1578-1660)
Carlo Saraceni (1579-1620)
Bernardo Strozzi (1581-1644)
Domenichino (1581-1641)
Bartolomeo Manfredi (1582-1622)
Giovanni Lanfranco (1582-1647)
Il Pordenone (1483-1539)
Domenico Fetti (1589-1623)
Guercino (1591-1666)
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1652)
Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669)
Andrea Sacchi (1599-1661)
17th century
Pietro Novelli (1603-1647)
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609-1664)
Sassoferrato (1609-1685)
Simone Cantarini (1612-1648)
Mattia Preti (1613-1699)
Salvatore Rosa (1615-1673)
Carlo Dolci (1616-1686)
Carlo Maratta (1625-1713)
Carlo Cignani (1628-1719)
Luca Giordano (1634-1705)
Elisabetta Sirani (1638-1665)
Baciccio (1639-1709)
Andrea Pozzo (1642-1709)
Francesco Trevisani (1656-1746)
Francesco Solimena (1657-1747)
Sebastiano Ricci (1659-1734)
Giuseppe Maria Crespi (1665-1747)
Alessandro Magnasco (1667-1749)
Rosalba Carriera (1673-1757)
Sebastiano Conca (1680-1764)
Jacopo Amigoni (1682-1752)
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (1682-1754)
Giovanni Battista Pittoni (1687-1767)
Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691-1765)
Giambattista Tiepolo (1696-1770)
Canaletto (1697-1768)
18th century
Pietro Longhi (1701-1785)
Francesco Zuccarelli (1702-1788)
Pompeo Batoni (1708-1787)
Francesco Guardi (1712-1793)
Bernardo Bellotto (1721-1780)
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (1727-1804)
Marcello Bacciarelli (1731-1818)
Giacomo Quarenghi (1744-1817)
Giovanni Battista Lampi (1751-1830)
Andrea Appiani (1754-1817)
Vincenzo Camuccini (1771-1844)
Vito D'Anna (1718-1769)
Francesco Hayez (1791-1882)
Massimo d'Azeglio (1798-1866)
Fidelio Bruni (1799-1875)
Giuseppe Molteni (1800-1867)
Francesco Podesti (1800-1895)
19th century
Antonio Fontanesi (1818-1882)
Antonio Ciseri (1821-1891)
Domenico Morelli (1823-1901)
Giovanni Fattori (1825-1908)
Silvestro Lega (1826-1895)
Antonio Rotta (1828-1903)
Giuseppe Lorenzo Gatteri (1829-1884)
Federico Zandomeneghi (1841-1917)
Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931)
Giacomo Di Chirico (1844-1883)
Giuseppe De Nittis (1846-1884)
Roberto Ferruzzi (1853-1934)
Fausto Zonaro (1854-1929)
Giovanni Segantini (1858-1899)
Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo (1868-1907)
Italian Goldsmiths
Pace di Valentino (c. 1200's - c. 1296)
His major works include the Altar of San Jacopo in the Pistoia Cathedral and the Reliquary of the Head of San Galgano
Guccio di Mannaia (1200's - 1300's)
Best known for a 13th-century decorated gold-plated chalice, which contains the first documented use of translucent enamels using the technique known as basse-taille and which served as a model for the future production of chalices.
Lorenzo Ghiberti (1381-1455)
Best remembered as the creator of the bronze doors of the Florence Baptistery, known as the Gates of Paradise. His other works include the doors of the northern portal of the Florence Baptistery and bronze statues of St. John the Baptist, St. Matthew and St. Stephen, among others.
Nicola da Guardiagrele (1385 - c. 1462)
Goldsmith, painter and etcher. His most notable goldsmith works are the Monstrance of Francavilla, the Monstrance of Atessa and the Antependium of Teramo.
Bernardo Cennini (1415-1498)
Goldsmith, sculptor and printer. Remembered for producing the first book printed at Florence.
Maso Finiguerra (1426-1464)
Goldsmith, niellist, draftsman, and engraver. Remembered as the inventor of chalcography (engraving on copper plates as a printmaking technique). Most of his works are lost.
Antonio del Pollaiuolo (c. 1431-1498)
Painter, sculptor, engraver and goldsmith. His most important work in gold is the Parament of San Giovanni.
Caradosso (c. 1452 - c. 1527)
Considered the most excellent goldsmith of his time. His works include many reliquaries, morses and crosiers.
Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio (1500-1565)
Engraver, goldsmith and medallist. Best known as one of the first reproductive printmakers in Italy and for playing a significant role in diffusing advanced Mannerist style around Italy and Europe.
Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571)
Renaissance polymath. Best known as a painter, sculptor and goldsmith. One of the most important artists of Mannerism. His most celebrated medal works include the gold medallion of Leda and the Swan, Hercules and the Nemean Lion in gold, Atlas Supporting the Sphere in gold, and the Cellini Salt Cellar.
Italian Explorers
Major Italian Explorers
Giovanni da Pian del Carpine (c. 1182-1252) - The first European to enter the court of the Great Khan and author of the earliest important Western account of northern and central Asia, Rus, and other regions of the Mongol Empire.
Marco Polo (1254-1324) - One of the first Europeans to visit China and Mongolia and the first European to leave a detailed chronicle of his travels in China.
Odorico da Pordenone (1286-1331) - The first European to enter Lhasa, the capital of the Dalai Lama in Tibet, and the first European traveler to describe distinctions between Oriental and Occidental culture accurately and in detail.
Cristoforo Colombo or Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) - Discovered the New World.
Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512) - Demonstrated that the New World was a separate land mass and gave his name to the new continent: America.
Giovanni Caboto or John Cabot (c. 1445 - c. 1498) - Discovered the coast of North America.
Sebastiano Caboto or Sebastian Cabot (1484-1557) - Discovered the coast of North America and the entrance to Hudson Bay.
Giovanni da Verrazzano (c. 1485 - c. 1528) - The first European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America between Florida and New Brunswick, including New York Bay and Narragansett Bay.
Antonio Pigafetta (c. 1492 - c. 1531) - Traveled with Ferdinand Magellan and his crew on their circumnavigation of the world, served as Magellan's assistant and kept an accurate journal which later assisted him in translating the Cebuano language, the first recorded document concerning the language.
Alessandro Malaspina (1754-1810) - Undertook a voyage around the world and a scientific expedition throughout the Pacific Ocean (the Malaspina Expedition), exploring and mapping much of the west coast of the Americas from Cape Horn to the Gulf of Alaska, crossing to Guam and the Philippines, and stopping in New Zealand, Australia and Tonga.
Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1778-1823) - Explored much of the Nile region; discovered and documented the tomb of Seti I (still known as "Belzoni's Tomb"); and was the first to penetrate into the second pyramid of Giza.
Pietro Savorgnan di Brazzà (1852-1905) - Added an area three times the size of France to the French Empire and gave his name to Brazzaville, capital of the Congo.
Umberto Nobile (1885-1978) - Developed semi-rigid airships and commanded the 1926 flight around the North Pole, piloting the first aircraft to ever reach the North Pole and the first to fly across the polar ice cap from Europe to America.
Minor Italian Explorers
Vandino Vivaldi and Ugolino Vivaldi (c. 1200's - c. 1200's) - Led the first known expedition in search of an ocean way from Europe to India.
Niccolò Polo and Maffeo Polo (c. 1230 - c. 1294; c. 1230 - c. 1309) - The first Europeans to see Bukhara in Uzbekistan; father and uncle of Marco Polo; reached China before Marco Polo.
Giovanni da Montecorvino (1247-1328) - Founded the earliest Roman Catholic missions in India and China.
Lancelotto Malocello (1270-1336) - Rediscovered the Canary Islands for the first time after the fall of the Roman Empire and gave his name to the island of Lanzarote.
Niccolò de' Conti (1395-1469) - Traveled to India, Southeast Asia and possibly Southern China; one of the first Europeans to write a detailed account of India; and one of the sources used to create the 1450 Fra Mauro map, which indicated that there was a sea route from Europe around Africa to India.
Antoniotto Usodimare (1416-1462) - Accompanied Alvise Cadamosto on two voyages and discovered a great stretch of the West African coast.
Antonio de Noli (c. 1419 - c. 1479) - Discovered several of the Cape Verde islands.
Alvise Cadamosto (c. 1432-1483) - Undertook two voyages with Antoniotto Usodimare and discovered a great stretch of the West African coast; the first European to sail up the Gambia River.
Bartolomeo Colombo or Bartholomew Columbus (1460-1514) - Accompanied his brother Christopher Columbus on his third and final voyage in the New World.
Ludovico di Varthema (c. 1470-1517) - The first European and Christian to enter Mecca.
Andrea Corsali (1487 - c. 1500's) - Demonstrated that Sumatra (Indonesia) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) are two distinct islands, identified New Guinea, hypothesized the existence of Australia, and identified, located, illustrated and named the constellation now known as the Southern Cross (Crux).
Marco da Nizza (c. 1495-1558) - The first European to arrive in Arizona territory.
Giovanni Battista Pastene (1507-1580) - Explored the coasts of Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile as far south as the archipelago of Chiloé.
Francesco Carletti (1573-1636) - First private traveler to circumnavigate the globe.
Pietro Della Valle (1586-1652) - The accounts of his travels in India remain one of the most important sources of the history and ethnography of the sub-continent.
Eusebio Francesco Chini or Eusebio Kino (1645-1711) - Explored the Pimería Alta (modern-day Sonora, Mexico and southern Arizona) and proved that the Baja California Peninsula is not an island.
Enrico Tonti or Henri de Tonti (1646-1704) - Explored the Mississippi River and established the Arkansas Post, the first permanent European settlement in the lower Mississippi region.
Alfonso Tonti or Alphonse de Tonty (1659-1727) - One of the founders of Detroit, Michigan.
Piercarlo Di Lietto (1672-1729) - Explored the Mississippi valley.
Giacomo Beltrami (1779-1855) - Discovered the source of the Mississippi River and the Red River of the North and gave his name to Beltrami County in Minnesota.
Luigi Maria D'Albertis (1841-1901) - The first explorer to travel the full navigable length of the Fly River in Papua New Guinea and the first European to venture far into the uncharted territory beyond the coastal regions of New Guinea.
Giacomo Bove (1852-1887) - Sailed on the first voyage through the north-east passage and later explored Tierra del Fuego and the Congo River.
Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti (1855-1926) - The first European to extensively explore the horn of Africa and coined the name Somalia.
Vittorio Bottego (1860-1897) - One of the first Western explorers of Jubaland in the Horn of Africa.
Umberto Cagni (1863-1932) - Led a probe over the surface of the Arctic Ocean in 1899-1900 with Luigi Amedeo di Savoia-Aosta, achieving the northernmost point reached by exploration up to that time.
Luigi Amedeo di Savoia-Aosta (1873-1933) - His 1899-1900 Arctic expedition with Umberto Cagni reached latitude 86°34′ N, setting a new world record.
Italian Sculptors
Major Italian Sculptors
Comacine Masters (c. 600's - c. 1500's)
Medieval guilds of architects, sculptors, builders and craftsmen from Lake Como, Italy. Remembered for preserving classical Roman methods of building inherited from Late Antiquity, and for developing and inventing Romanesque sculpture and decoration. Constructed many churches in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, England and Scandinavia. Their sculptural works include the facade of the Basilica of Sant'Abbondio in Como, the pulpit of the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan, the baptismal font in Massa Marittima Cathedral, the crypt of the Lund Cathedral in Sweden, carvings and sculptures at the Modena Cathedral, the Trento Cathedral, the Basilica of San Fedele in Como and the Basilica of San Michele Maggiore in Pavia, among many others.
Antelami Masters or Intelvesi Masters (900's-1500's)
Branch of the Comacine Masters from Val d'Intelvi, Italy. Remembered for contributing to the development of Genoese Romanesque art and architecture. Their sculptural works include the sculptures and decorations of Genoa Cathedral, the decorations of Fidenza Cathedral, reliefs for the Parma Cathedral and sculptural decorations for the Baptistery of Parma, among many others.
Wiligelmo (c. 1000's-1100's)
Remembered as the most important master of Romanesque sculpture in Italy and for being the first sculptor in Italy to sign his works. Best known for his reliefs on the facade of Modena Cathedral.
Campionese Masters (1100's-1300's)
Branch of the Comacine Masters from Campione, Italy and surrounding area. Remembered for contributing to the transition of Lombard Romanesque sculpture into Gothic sculpture. Their sculptural works include the Tomb of St. Augustine, the facade of Monza Cathedral, the portal of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo, the pontile of Modena Cathedral, the sculptures of the portals of the Sacristy of Milan Cathedral, the sculptures of the Loggia degli Osii in Milan, the Scaliger Tombs in Verona and the Equestrian Monument of Bernabò Visconti, among many others.
Benedetto Antelami (c. 1150-1230)
Architect and sculptor. Chief of the Comacine Masters. Remembered for contributing to the spread of Gothic art and architecture in Italy, and for synthesizing Gothic with the classical Roman traditions inherited from Late Antiquity. His sculptural works include reliefs for the Parma Cathedral, sculptures for the Fidenza Cathedral, sculptural decorations for the Baptistery of Parma, the main west door of the Basilica of San Marco in Venice and the Holy Face of Lucca.
Nicola Pisano (c. 1220-1284)
Architect and sculptor. Remembered as the father of modern sculpture. His most important sculptural works include the Pulpit of the Baptistery of Pisa, the Pulpit of Siena Cathedral, the Ark of St. Dominic and the Fontana Maggiore in Perugia.
Arnolfo di Cambio (c. 1240-1310)
Architect and sculptor. His most famous sculptural works are the Baldacchino in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran is and the bronze statue of St. Peter in St. Peter's Basilica.
Giovanni Pisano (c. 1248-1315)
Architect and sculptor. His most notable sculptural works are the Pulpit of Pisa Cathedral, the Pulpit of Sant'Andrea in Pistoia, sculptures for the facade of Siena Cathedral and the Fontana Maggiore in Perugia.
Andrea Pisano (1290-1348)
Architect and sculptor. His most important sculptural works are the bronze south doors of the Baptistery of Florence, reliefs for Florence Cathedral and reliefs for the Campanile of the Florence Cathedral, known as Giotto's Campanile.
Orcagna (c. 1310-1368)
Architect, painter and sculptor. His most celebrated sculptural work is the Tabernacle of Orsanmichele in Florence, which is considered the one of the greatest expressions of Italian Gothic.
Jacopo della Quercia (c. 1347-1438)
Considered a precursor of Michelangelo. His principle works include the Tomb of Ilaria del Carretto, the Porta Magna of the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna ans the Fonte Gaia in Siena.
Lorenzo Ghiberti (1381-1455)
Best remembered as the creator of the bronze doors of the Florence Baptistery, known as the Gates of Paradise. His other works include the doors of the northern portal of the Florence Baptistery and bronze statues of St. John the Baptist, St. Matthew and St. Stephen, among others.
Donatello (c. 1386-1466)
Remembered as the greatest sculptor of the Early Renaissance. His best known works include two statues of David, a statue of St. Mark, the Penitent Magdalene and the Equestrian Statue of Gattamelata.
Michelozzo Michelozzi (1396-1472)
Architect and sculptor. His principle sculptural works include the Tomb of Antipope John XXIII, the Tomb of Cardinal Rainaldo Brancacci and the statue of St. John the Baptist on the Silver Altar of the Baptistery of San Giovanni.
Luca della Robbia (c. 1400-1482)
Remembered for inventing the technique of producing colorful, tin-glazed terracotta statuary. His most famous works are the Nativity in glazed terracotta, the Madonna and Child in glazed terracotta and the Cantoria for the Florence Cathedral.
Filarete (c. 1400-1469)
Architect, sculptor, medallist and architectural theorist. Although best known as an architect, he also cast the bronze central doors for Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and made a small bronze copy of the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius.
Bernardo Rossellino (1409-1464)
Architect and sculptor. Best remembered for establishing a new style of tomb monument. His most notable works include the Tomb of Leonardo Bruni and the Tomb of the Cardinal of Portugal.
Andrea Bregno (c. 1418-1503)
Architect and sculptor. Considered the greatest representative of Lombard sculpture in the 15th century. Remembered for his numerous funerary tombs. His works include the Piccolomini Altar in the Siena Cathedral and the Tomb of Cardinal Louis d'Albret, among many others.
Francesco Laurana (c. 1430-1502)
Considered one of the most important sculptors of the 15th century. His works include reliefs for the Triumphal Arch of Castel Nuovo in Naples, the Bust of Eleanor of Aragon, the Bust of Isabella of Aragon and the Bust of a Princess, among many others.
Andrea del Verrocchio (c. 1435-1488)
Painter, sculptor, and goldsmith. Best remembered for the Equestrian Statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni in Venice.
Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439-1501)
Architect, painter, engineer, sculptor and medallist. Although best known for his engineering and architectural works, he was also a prominent sculptor. His most famous sculptural works are the bronze angels for the high altar of the Siena Cathedral.
Giuliano da Sangallo (1445-1516)
Architect, sculptor and military engineer. Although best known for his engineering and architectural works, he was also an accomplished sculptor. His best known sculptural work is the relief for the Palazzo della Gherardesca in Florence.
Giovanni Antonio Amadeo (1447-1522)
Architect, sculptor and engineer. His sculptural works include the Tomb of Bartolomeo Colleoni, the main portal of the Lugano Cathedral and decorations and sculptures for the Certosa di Pavia.
Andrea Sansovino (c. 1467-1529)
Architect and sculptor. His most notable work is the marble screen around the Holy House of Loreto, designed by Donato Bramante. His other major work is The Baptism of Christ above the Gates of Paradise of the Florence Baptistery.
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)
Renaissance polymath. Besides being a famed painter and architect, he also created some of the most iconic sculptures and symbols of the Renaissance, including the Pietà and the statue of David. His other sculptures include the Madonna of Bruges, the Risen Christ, the Tomb of Pope Julius II, and the Tomb of Giuliano de' Medici, among many others.
Jacopo Sansovino (1486-1570)
Architect and sculptor. His masterpiece is the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice, which is one of Venice's most richly decorated Renaissance structures. His other sculptural works include the reliefs of the Loggetta del Sansovino at St. Mark's Campanile, the statues and reliefs for St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, the Double Tomb of Antonio Orso and Cardinal Giovanni Michiel and the Tomb of Doge Francesco Venier, among many others.
Baccio Bandinelli (1493-1560)
One of the first Mannerist sculptors. Remembered for introducing the historiated pedestal (relief panels on the pedestal of statues). His major work is the sculpture of Hercules and Cacus. His other works include the Tomb of Pope Leo X, the Tomb of Pope Clement VII, the Monument to Giovanni delle Bande Nere and the Pietà in the Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata in Florence, among others.
Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571)
Renaissance polymath. Best known as a painter, sculptor and goldsmith. One of the most important artists of Mannerism. His most celebrated sculptural work is the bronze sculpture of Perseus with the Head of Medusa.
Francesco Primaticcio (1504-1570)
Painter, sculptor, stuccoist and architect. Remembered as one of the leading artists of the First School of Fontainebleau and for introducing stucco work to France. His most notable sculptural work is the stucco overdoor in the Apartments of the Duchesse d'Etampes inside the Palace of Fontainebleau in France.
Bartolomeo Ammannati (1511-1592)
Architect and sculptor. Considered one of the most important artists of the 16th century. His most famous sculptural work is the Fountain of Neptune in Florence.
Giacomo della Porta (1531-1602)
Architect and sculptor. Although best remembered as an architect, he also designed and/or sculpted the statues on several Roman fountains, including the Fontana del Moro, the Fontana delle Tartarughe and the Fountain of the Pantheon. His other sculptural works include the Funerary Monument of the Cybo Family and the sculpture of Christ Delivering the Keys of Heaven to St. Peter, located on the altar of the Chapel of San Pietro in the Basilica of Santa Pudenziana in Rome.
Alessandro Algardi (1598-1654)
One of the leading Roman sculptors of 17th century. His major works include the Tomb of Pope Leo XI, a statue of Pope Innocent X and the Fuga d'Attila in St. Peter's Basilica.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680)
Architect and sculptor. Recognized as the father of Baroque sculpture. His most famous works are the Baldacchino in St. Peter's Basilica, the Chair of St. Peter, the Ecstasy of St. Teresa, the Funerary Monument of Blessed Ludovica Albertoni, Apollo and Daphne, the statues over the Colonnades of St. Peter's Square and the Angels of Ponte Sant'Angelo in Rome.
Antonio Canova (1757-1822)
Widely considered to be the greatest Neoclassical artist. His most notable works are Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss, Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker, Perseus Triumphant, Venus Victrix and The Three Graces.
Minor Italian Sculptors
Vulca (500's - c. 400's BC)
The only Etruscan sculptor whose name survives. His most famous work was a terracotta statue of Jupiter that was inside the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill in Rome. The Apollo of Veii is also attributed to him.
Master Ursus / Maestro Orso (600's - 700's)
One of the earliest Italian architects to record his name on his works. Remembered for crafting the altar in the Abbey of San Pietro in Valle in Ferentillo and the ciborium of the Pieve di San Giorgio di Valpolicella in Sant'Ambrogio di Valpolicella.
Cosmati Family (1100's - 1200's)
Family of architects, sculptors and mosaicists. Remembered for developing the Cosmatesque or Cosmati style of flooring.
Bonanno Pisano (c. 1150 - c. 1200)
Remembered for constructing San Ranieri's Door on Pisa Cathedral and the bronze doors of Monreale Cathedral.
Guglielmo Agnelli (c. 1238-1313)
Sculptor, architect and Dominican lay brother. Remembered for collaborating with Nicola Pisano on the Ark of St. Dominic.
Lorenzo Maitani (c. 1275–1330)
Primary sculptor responsible for the construction and decoration of the facade of Orvieto Cathedral.
Tino di Camaino (c. 1285 - c. 1337)
Became chief builder of the Pisa Cathedral in 1315. Developed the style of Arnolfo di Cambio and Giovanni Pisano. Remembered for his numerous funerary tombs.
Bonino da Campione (c. 1325-1397)
One of the greatest masters of Gothic sculpture from 1350-1390. His major works are the Equestrian Monument of Bernabò Visconti and the upper part of the Scaliger Tombs in Verona.
Nino Pisano (c. 1315 - c. 1370)
One of the most important sculptors of the 14th century. His works include the Madonna of Trapani, the Madonna and Child for the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, the Madonna and Child for the Tomb of Doge Marco Corner, and the Tomb of Archbishop Saltarelli, among others.
Giovanni Bono (c. 1360 - c. 1443)
Sculptor and architect. Remembered for his work on the Doge's Palace in Venice, particularly the Porta della Carta and the Arco Foscari.
Nanni di Banco (c. 1380-1421)
Contributed to the transition from Gothic to Renaissance sculpture. His most celebrated work is the Four Crowned Martyrs for the Church of Orsanmichele in Florence.
Giusti Family / Juste Family (1400's - 1500's)
Family of sculptors who worked primarily in France. Regarded as the most brilliant representatives and the most active emissaries of Italian art beyond the Alps. Their most notable work is the Tomb of Louis XII of France and Anne of Brittany, sculpted by Giusto dei Giusti (Juste de Juste).
Bartolomeo Bono (c. 1405/1410 - c. 1464/1467)Family of sculptors who worked primarily in France. Regarded as the most brilliant representatives and the most active emissaries of Italian art beyond the Alps. Their most notable work is the Tomb of Louis XII of France and Anne of Brittany, sculpted by Giusto dei Giusti (Juste de Juste).
Sculptor and architect. Remembered for his work on the Doge's Palace in Venice, particularly the Porta della Carta and the Arco Foscari. He also finished the decoration of the Ca' d'Oro in Venice and built the portal of the Scuola Grande di San Marco in Venice.
Vecchietta (1410-1480)
Painter, sculptor, goldsmith and architect. His major sculptural work is the bronze ciborium of Siena Cathedral.
Agostino di Duccio (1418 - c. 1481)
Remembered for the marble facade of the Oratory of San Bernardino in Perugia.
Niccolò di Giovanni Fiorentino (1418-1506)
Sculptor and architect. Remembered for his works in Venice and Dalmatia, including the Tomb of Doge Francesco Foscari, the decorations in the Chapel of Blessed Giovanni Orsini in Traù and the sculptures on the San Giacomo Cathedral in Sebenico.
Antonio Federighi (c. 1420/1425-1483)
Sculptor and architect. Considered one of the greatest artists of the Sienese Renaissance. Chief architect of Siena Cathedral from 1450-1480. Chief architect of Orvieto Cathedral from 1451-1456. His sculptural works include the holy water font in Siena Cathedral, statues for the Loggia della Mercanzia in Siena and the carvings on roof of the Cappella di Piazza in Siena, among others.
Domenico Gagini (1425-1492)
Founder of the Sicilian branch of the Gagini dynasty, a family of sculptors, architects and painters who worked in Genoa and Sicily. His most notable work is the decoration of the choir in Palermo Cathedral.
Antonio Rossellino (1427-1479)
Remembered for the sharpness and fineness of his bas-relief. His most important works are the Tomb of Blessed Beato Marcolino Amanni and the Tomb of Cardinal James of Portugal.
Mino da Fiesole (1429-1484)
Remembered for his portrait busts. His other works include the Tomb of Ugo of Toscany and the Tabernacle of the Chapel of the Miracle of the Sacrament in the Church of Sant'Ambrogio in Florence, among others.
Desiderio da Settignano (c. 1430-1464)
Remembered for his busts of children and devotional reliefs. His other works include the Penitent Magdalene and the Tomb of Carlo Marsuppini, among many others.
Antonio del Pollaiuolo (c. 1431-1498)
Painter, sculptor, engraver and goldsmith. His sculptural works include the Cross of the Treasure of San Giovanni, the Tomb of Pope Sixtus IV and the Tomb of Pope Innocent VIII, among others.
Niccolò dell'Arca (c. 1435-1494)
Remembered for sculpting the Lamentation over the Dead Christ and the upper part of the Ark of St. Dominic.
Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525)
Sculptor and ceramist. Remembered for his terracotta sculptures. His works include the Madonna with Child and Angels in glazed terracotta, the Crucifixion of Christ in glazed terracotta and the Assumption of Mary in glazed terracotta, among many others
Matteo Civitali (1436-1502)
Sculptor, architect and engineer. His most memorable work is the Temple of the Holy Face in the Lucca Cathedral.
Gregorio di Lorenzo (c. 1436-1504)
Remembered as the Master of the Marble Madonnas.
Benedetto da Maiano (1442-1497)
Sculpture and architect. One of the most important sculptors of the 15th century. Among his most celebrated sculptural works is the Pulpit of the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence.
Giovanni Antonio Amadeo (1447-1522)
Sculptor, architect and engineer. Although best remembered as an architect, he was also a celebrated sculptor. His sculptural works include sculptures and decorations on the Certosa di Pavia and the facade of the Church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Brescia, among others.
Guido Mazzoni (1450-1518)
Sculptor and painter. His best known works are the Adoration of the Shepherds in terracotta and Lamentation over the Dead Christ in terracotta.
Pietro Lombardo (1435-1515)
Architect and sculptor. One of the most important sculptors in Venice in the 15th and 16th centuries. Chief sculptor of the Church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Venice from 1481-1489. Chief sculptor of the Church of San Giobbe in Venice. Among his most celebrated works are the Monument to Doge Pietro Mocenigo and the Monument to Doge Pasquale Malipiero.
Tullio Lombardo (c. 1455-1532)
Architect and sculptor. Among his most celebrated works are the Monument to Doge Pietro Mocenigo, which he co-sculpted with his father Pietro Lombardo, the Monument to Doge Andrea Vendramin, which he co-sculpted with his brother Antonio Lombardo, the Monument to Doge Giovanni Mocenigo, , the Bust of Christ, the Sculpture of Adam and the Young Warrior.
Antonio Lombardo (c.1458-1516)
Remembered for his bas-reliefs in the Basilica of Sant'Antonio in Padua and the Monument to Doge Andrea Vendramin, which he co-sculpted with his brother Tullio Lombardo.
Benedetto Briosco (c. 1460 - c. 1517)
Remembered for his work on the facade of the Certosa di Pavia.
Alessandro Leopardi (1466-1512)
Sculptor and architect. Remembered for completing the Andrea del Verrocchio's Equestrian Statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni in Venice.
Domenico Fancelli (1469–1519)
Credited with introducing Renaissance art to Spain.
Gaudenzio Ferrari (c. 1475/1480-1546)
Sculptor and painter. His most notable sculptural works are his statues at the Sacro Monte di Varallo.
Antonello Gagini (1478-1536)
Sculptor and architect. One of the most important sculptors of Renaissance in Sicily. His works include the Madonna della neve, the Madonna di Trapani, the Madonna dell'Udienza and the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor, among many others.
Giovanni da Nola (1488-1558)
Sculptor and architect. His main works include the Tomb of Don Pedro de Toledo, the Tomb of Ramon de Cardona and the Altar of Santa Maria della Neve.
Gasparo Cairano (c. 1489 - c. 1517)
His works include the Ark of Sant'Appollonio and the Ark of San Tiziano, among others.
Marco d'Agrate (c. 1504 - c. 1574)
Best known for the statue of St. Bartholomew Flayed in Milan Cathedral.
Raffaello da Montelupo (c. 1504/1505 – c. 1566/1567)
Sculptor and architect. Best known for the statue of St. Michael the Archangel for Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome.
Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli (1507-1563)
Sculptor and Servite friar. His most famous works are the Fountain of Orion and the Fountain of Neptune in Messina.
Leone Leoni (1509-1590)
Sculptor and medallist. Best known for his bronze sculpture of Emperor Charles V.
Alessandro Vittoria (1525-1608)
One of the main representatives of Venetian classical style and one of the leading sculptors of the 16th century. His works include the statues of St. Zachary, St. Anthony the Great, St. Roch, St. Sebastian, St. John the Evangelist, and his own funerary monument.
Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527-1596)
Architect, sculptor and painter. His most important sculptural work is the Ciborium in Milan Cathedral.
Vincenzo Danti (1530-1576)
Best known for his statue of Pope Julius III.
Flaminio Vacca (1538-1605)
Best known for sculpting one of the Medici lions.
Pietro Bernini (1562-1629)
Best known as the father of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. His most notable work is the Fontana della Barcaccia in Rome.
Stefano Maderno (c. 1576-1636)
His most important work is The Martyrdom of Saint Cecilia.
Francesco Mochi (1580-1654)
One of the first baroque sculptors. His best known work is the statue of St. Veronica in St. Peter's Basilica.
Cosimo Fanzago (1591-1678)
Architect and sculptor. Regarded as the greatest baroque sculptor in Naples. His works include the Spire of San Domenico, the Spire of San Gennaro, the Spire of Gesù Nuovo and the Gate of Cosimo Fanzago, among many others.
Andrea Bolgi (1605-1656)
Remembered for his statue of St. Helena in St. Peter's Basilica.
Ercole Ferrata (1610-1686)
Remembered for his Angel with a Cross on Ponte Sant'Angelo in Rome.
Giuseppe Zimbalo (1620-1710)
Architect and sculptor. The most prominent representative of Lecce Baroque. He designed the facade of the Basilica of San Giovanni Battista al Rosario in Lecce, part of the facade of the Basilica of Santa Croce in Lecce and the upper facade of the Cathedral of Sant'Agata in Gallipoli. He also sculpted the Column of St. Oranzo in Lecce.
Domenico Guidi (1625-1701)
Remembered for his Angel with the Lance on Ponte Sant'Angelo in Rome.
Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1644-1725)
His best known work is the statue of St. Philip in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome.
Giacomo Serpotta (1652-1732)
His works include the statues in the Oratory of the Rosary of St. Dominic in Palermo, the statues in the Oratory di San Lorenzo in Palermo and a stucco relief of the Battle of Lepanto, among many others.
Camillo Rusconi (1658-1728)
His masterpieces are the four statues of St. Matthew, St. Andrew, St.James the Great and St. John the Evangelist in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome.
Domenico Antonio Vaccaro (1678-1745)
Architect, sculptor and painter. His most notable sculpture is the Guardian Angel. His other works include the sculptures of the San Gennaro Chapel in the Certosa di San Martino in Naples and the busts of the Cloister of the Certosa di San Martino, among others.
Francesco Robba (1698-1757)
Regarded as the leading Baroque sculptor of marble statuary in southeastern Central Europe. His most notable work is the Robba Fountain in Ljubljana.
Pietro Bracci (1700-1773)
Considered one of the greatest late Baroque sculptors. His best known work is the statue of Oceanus on the Trevi Fountain in Rome.
Giuseppe Sanmartino (1720-1793)
Best known for his Veiled Christ.
Lorenzo Bartolini (1777-1850)
Considered the greatest exponent of Purismo. His most notable work is the Fiducia in Dio.
Adamo Tadolini (1788-1863)
Best known for his statue of St. Paul in St. Peter's Square in Rome.
Giuseppe De Fabris (1790-1860)
Best known for his statue of St. Peter outside St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Carlo Marochetti (1805-1867)
Best known for his equestrian statue of Richard Coeur de Lion outside the Palace of Westminster in London and the equestrian monument of Emanuele Filiberto in Turin.
Santo Varni (1807-1885)
Best known for the Statue of Faith in the Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno in Genoa.
Giovanni Strazza (1818-1875)
Best known for The Veiled Virgin.
Enrico Pazzi (1818-1899)
Best known for his Monument to Dante in the Piazza Santa Croce in Florence and the Prince Mihailo Monument in Belgrade, Serbia.
Ignazio Jacometti (1819-1883)
His most important works are the Kiss of Judas, the Ecce Homo and the statue of Moses for the Column of the Immacolata in Rome.
Giulio Monteverde (1837-1917)
Best known for the Monteverde Angel in the Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno in Genoa..
Giulio Tadolini (1849-1918)
Best known for the Tomb of Pope Leo XIII.
Giuseppe Moretti (1857-1935)
Remembered as the first man to use aluminum in art. His most notable work is the Vulcan Statue in Birmingham, Alabama, which is the largest cast iron statue in the world.
Piccirilli Brothers (1800's-1900's)
Family of marble carvers and sculptors. Remembered for carving a large number of the most significant marble sculptures in the United States, including the colossal statue of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the carvings on the Washington Square Arch in New York City, the lions of the New York Public Library, the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, and many others.
Arturo Di Modica (1941-present)
His most notable work is the Charging Bull in Bowling Green, New York City.
Letter to Pope Pius IX (September 8, 1847) by Giuseppe Mazzini
[Giuseppe Mazzini, “A Pio IX Pontefice Massimo”, 1847.]
Most Holy Father,
Permit an Italian, who has studied your every step for some months with great hope, to address to you . . . some free and profoundly sincere words. . . . From a simple individual animated by holy intentions may come, sometimes, a great counsel; and I write to you with so much love, with so much emotion of my whole soul, with so much faith in the destiny of my country, which may be revived by your means, that my thoughts ought to speak truth. . . .
First, Most Holy Father, it is necessary for me to clarify something about myself. My name has probably reached your ears, but accompanied by all sorts of calumnies, errors and foolish conjectures which the police and many men of my party—through want of knowledge or poverty of intellect—have systematically heaped upon it. I am not a subversive, nor a communist, nor a man of blood, nor a hater, nor intolerant, nor an exclusive worshiper of a system or a form imagined by my mind. I worship God, and an idea which seems to me to come from God: the idea of One Italy, the angel of moral unity and of progressive civilization for the nations of Europe.
Here and everywhere I have written the best I know how against the vices of materialism, selfishness, reaction, and against the destructive tendencies which contaminate many in our party. If the people should rise in violent attack against the selfishness and bad government of their rulers, I, while rendering homage to the right of the people, shall be among the first to prevent the excesses and the vengeance which long servitude has prepared.
I believe deeply in a religious principle, supreme above all social ordinances; in a divine order, which we ought to seek to realize here on earth; in a law, in a providential design, which we all ought to study and promote according to our strength. I believe in the inspiration of my immortal soul; in the teaching of humanity, which speaks to me through the deeds and words of all its saints; in incessant progress for all through the work of all my brothers toward a common moral improvement, toward the fulfillment of the Divine Law. And in the great history of humanity I have studied the history of Italy, and I have found that Rome was twice director of the world: first through the Emperors, later through the Popes. I have found there, that every manifestation of Italian life has also been a manifestation of European life; and that always when Italy fell, the moral unity of Europe began to fall apart into analysis, into doubt, into anarchy.
I believe in yet another manifestation of Italian thought; and I believe that another European world ought to be developed from the Eternal City which had the Capitol and has the Vatican. And this faith has not abandoned me ever, not even through years of poverty and griefs which God alone knows. In these few words lies all my being, all the secret of my life. I may err by intellect, but my heart has always remained pure. I have never lied through fear or hope, and I speak to you as I should speak to God beyond the sepulchre.
I believe you are good. There is no man this day, I will not say in Italy, but in all Europe, more powerful than you; you therefore have, Most Holy Father, immense duties. God measures these according to the means which He has granted to His creatures.
Europe is in a tremendous crisis of doubts and desires. Through the work of time, accelerated by your predecessors and by the upper hierarchy of the Church, faith is dead; Catholicism is lost in despotism; Protestantism is lost in anarchy. Look around you: you will find superstitious men and hypocrites, but not believers. The intellect travels in a void. The bad adore calculation and material goods; the good pray and hope: but nobody believes. Kings, governments and the ruling classes fight for a usurped power, an illegitimate power, since it does not represent the worship of truth, nor a disposition to sacrifice one's self for the good of all; the people fight because they suffer, because they would like to have their turn at enjoyment; nobody fights for duty; nobody, because the war against evil and falsehood is a holy war, the crusade of God. We no longer have heaven; hence we no longer have society.
Do not deceive yourself, Most Holy Father; this is the present state of Europe.
But humanity can not exist without heaven. The whole idea of society is but a consequence of the idea of religion. We shall have therefore, sooner or later, religion and heaven. We shall have these not from the kings and the privileged classes—their very condition excludes love, which is the soul of all religions—but from the people. The spirit of God descends on the multitude gathered together in His name. The people have suffered for centuries on the cross; and God will bless them with faith.
You, Most Holy Father, can hasten that moment. I will not tell you my individual opinions on future religious development; these are of little importance. But I will say to you, that, whatever be the destiny of the creeds now existing, you can put yourself at the head of this development. If God wills that such creeds should live again, you can make them live again; if God wills that they should be transformed, that, leaving the foot of the cross, dogma and worship should be purified by taking a step nearer God, the Father and Educator of the world, you can put yourself between the two epochs, and guide the world to the conquest and the practice of religious truth, extirpating excessive materialism and barren negation.
God forbid I should tempt you with ambition; that would seem to me to be profane. I call you, in the name of the power which God has granted you, and has not granted without a reason, to fulfill the good regenerating European work. I call you, after so many centuries of doubt and corruption, to be an apostle of Eternal Truth. I call you to make yourself the “servant of all”, to sacrifice yourself, if necessary, so that “God's will may be done on the earth as it is in heaven”; to hold yourself ready to glorify God in victory or to repeat with resignation, if you ever succumb, the words of Gregory VII: “I die in exile, because I have loved justice and hated iniquity”.
But for this, to fulfill the mission which God confides to you, two things are necessary: to be a believer and to unify Italy. Without the former, you will fall by the way, abandoned by God and by men; without the latter, you will not have the lever with which only you can effect great, holy and enduring things.
Be a believer; abhor being a king, a politician, a statesman. Make no compromise with error; do not contaminate yourself with diplomacy; do not come to terms with fear, with expediency, with the false doctrines of legality, which is merely a falsehood invented when faith failed. Take no counsel except from God, from the inspirations of your own heart, and from the imperious necessity of rebuilding a temple to truth, justice and faith.
Self-collected in enthusiastic love for humanity, and apart from any other regard, ask God to teach you the way: then enter upon it, with the confidence of a conqueror on your brow, with the irrevocable decision of a martyr; look neither to the right nor the left, but straight ahead and up to heaven. To every object that you encounter on the way, ask yourself: Is this just or unjust, true or false, the law of man or the law of God?
Proclaim aloud the result of your examination and act accordingly. Do not say to yourself: “If I speak and work in such a way, the princes of the earth will disagree; the ambassadors will present notes and protests.” What are the quarrels of selfishness in princes, or their notes, before a syllable of the eternal Gospel of God? They have had importance till now, because, being phantoms, they had nothing to oppose them but phantoms. Oppose to them the reality of a man who sees the Divine view—unknown to them—of human affairs: of an immortal soul conscious of a high mission; and they will vanish before you as vapors accumulated in darkness before the sun which rises on the horizon.
Do not let yourself be frightened by perils; the creature who fulfills a duty belongs not to men, but to God. God will protect you; God will spread around you such a halo of love, that neither the perfidy of irreparably lost men, nor the suggestions of hell, can break through it. Give a new, unique spectacle to the world: you will have new results, unforeseen by human calculation. Announce an era; declare that humanity is sacred and a daughter of God; that all who violate her rights to progress and association are on the way of error; that God is the source of every government; that those who are the best according to intellect, heart, genius and virtue, must be the guides of the people. Bless those who suffer and fight; blame and reprove those who cause suffering, without regard to the name they bear, or the rank that invests them. The people will adore in you the best interpreter of the Divine design, and your conscience will give you rest, strength and ineffable comfort.
Unify Italy, your fatherland. For this you have no need to work, but to bless those who work through you and in your name. Gather round you those who best represent the national party. Do not beg for alliances with princes. Continue to seek the alliance of our own people. Say to us: “The unity of Italy ought to be a fact of the nineteenth century”, and it will suffice; we shall work for you. Leave our pens free; leave free the circulation of ideas in what regards this point, vital for us, of the national unity. Treat the Austrian government, even when it no longer menaces your territory, with the reserve of one who knows that it governs by usurpation in Italy and elsewhere. Fight it with words of a just man, wherever it carries out oppressions and violations of the rights of others outside of Italy. In the name of the God of Peace, invite the Jesuits allied with Austria in Switzerland to withdraw from that country, where their presence prepares an inevitable and speedy bloodshed of the citizens. Give a word of sympathy which shall become public to the first Pole of Galicia who comes into your presence.
In short, show us by some fact that you intend not only to improve the physical condition of your own few subjects, but that you embrace in your love the millions of Italians as your brothers; that you believe them to be called by God to unite in family unity under one single covenant; that you would bless the national flag wherever it should be raised by pure and uncontaminated hands; and leave the rest to us. We will cause to rise around you a nation over whose free and popular development you, by living, shall preside. We will found a government unique in Europe, which shall destroy the absurd divorce between spiritual and temporal power, and in which you shall be chosen to represent the principle of which the men chosen to represent the nation will make the application.
We shall know how to translate into a potent fact the instinct which palpitates throughout all Italy. We will excite active support for you among the nations of Europe; we will find you friends even in the ranks of Austria; we alone, because we alone have unity of design and believe in the truth of our principle, and have never betrayed it.
Do not fear excesses from the people once entered upon this road; the people only commit excesses when left to their own impulses without any guide whom they respect. Do not hesitate before the idea of becoming a cause of war. War exists everywhere: open or latent, but near breaking out and inevitable; nor can human power prevent it. Nor, Most Holy Father, do I address these words to you because I doubt in the least of our destiny, or because I believe you to be the sole indispensable means of the enterprise.
The unity of Italy is a work of God: a part of the design of Providence and a wish of all, even of those who show themselves most satisfied with local improvements, and who, less sincere than I, wish to make them means of attaining their own aims.
It will be fulfilled, with you or without you. But I address you, because I believe you are worthy of taking the initiative in a work so vast; because putting yourself at the head of it would do much to bridge the road and diminish the dangers, injury and blood that will be spilled in the struggle; because with you the conflict would assume a religious aspect and free us from the many risks of civil reaction and offenses; because a political result and a vast moral result might be attained at once under your banner; because the revival of Italy under the aegis of a religious idea, of a banner not of rights, but of duties, would leave behind all the revolutions of foreign countries, and would immediately place Italy at the head of European progress; because it is in your power to cause that God and the People―two terms too often fatally separated―should meet at once in beautiful and holy harmony, to direct the fate of nations.
If I could be near you, I would invoke from God power to convince you, by gesture, by accent, by tears; now I can only confide to the paper the cold corpse, as it were, of my thought; nor can I ever have the certainty that you have read and meditated a moment upon what I write. But I feel an imperious necessity of fulfilling this duty toward Italy and toward you, and, whatsoever you may think of it, I shall find myself more in peace with my conscience for having thus addressed you.
Believe, Most Holy Father, in the feelings of veneration and of high hope which I profess to you.
September 8, 1847
Most Holy Father,
Permit an Italian, who has studied your every step for some months with great hope, to address to you . . . some free and profoundly sincere words. . . . From a simple individual animated by holy intentions may come, sometimes, a great counsel; and I write to you with so much love, with so much emotion of my whole soul, with so much faith in the destiny of my country, which may be revived by your means, that my thoughts ought to speak truth. . . .
First, Most Holy Father, it is necessary for me to clarify something about myself. My name has probably reached your ears, but accompanied by all sorts of calumnies, errors and foolish conjectures which the police and many men of my party—through want of knowledge or poverty of intellect—have systematically heaped upon it. I am not a subversive, nor a communist, nor a man of blood, nor a hater, nor intolerant, nor an exclusive worshiper of a system or a form imagined by my mind. I worship God, and an idea which seems to me to come from God: the idea of One Italy, the angel of moral unity and of progressive civilization for the nations of Europe.
Here and everywhere I have written the best I know how against the vices of materialism, selfishness, reaction, and against the destructive tendencies which contaminate many in our party. If the people should rise in violent attack against the selfishness and bad government of their rulers, I, while rendering homage to the right of the people, shall be among the first to prevent the excesses and the vengeance which long servitude has prepared.
I believe deeply in a religious principle, supreme above all social ordinances; in a divine order, which we ought to seek to realize here on earth; in a law, in a providential design, which we all ought to study and promote according to our strength. I believe in the inspiration of my immortal soul; in the teaching of humanity, which speaks to me through the deeds and words of all its saints; in incessant progress for all through the work of all my brothers toward a common moral improvement, toward the fulfillment of the Divine Law. And in the great history of humanity I have studied the history of Italy, and I have found that Rome was twice director of the world: first through the Emperors, later through the Popes. I have found there, that every manifestation of Italian life has also been a manifestation of European life; and that always when Italy fell, the moral unity of Europe began to fall apart into analysis, into doubt, into anarchy.
I believe in yet another manifestation of Italian thought; and I believe that another European world ought to be developed from the Eternal City which had the Capitol and has the Vatican. And this faith has not abandoned me ever, not even through years of poverty and griefs which God alone knows. In these few words lies all my being, all the secret of my life. I may err by intellect, but my heart has always remained pure. I have never lied through fear or hope, and I speak to you as I should speak to God beyond the sepulchre.
I believe you are good. There is no man this day, I will not say in Italy, but in all Europe, more powerful than you; you therefore have, Most Holy Father, immense duties. God measures these according to the means which He has granted to His creatures.
Europe is in a tremendous crisis of doubts and desires. Through the work of time, accelerated by your predecessors and by the upper hierarchy of the Church, faith is dead; Catholicism is lost in despotism; Protestantism is lost in anarchy. Look around you: you will find superstitious men and hypocrites, but not believers. The intellect travels in a void. The bad adore calculation and material goods; the good pray and hope: but nobody believes. Kings, governments and the ruling classes fight for a usurped power, an illegitimate power, since it does not represent the worship of truth, nor a disposition to sacrifice one's self for the good of all; the people fight because they suffer, because they would like to have their turn at enjoyment; nobody fights for duty; nobody, because the war against evil and falsehood is a holy war, the crusade of God. We no longer have heaven; hence we no longer have society.
Do not deceive yourself, Most Holy Father; this is the present state of Europe.
But humanity can not exist without heaven. The whole idea of society is but a consequence of the idea of religion. We shall have therefore, sooner or later, religion and heaven. We shall have these not from the kings and the privileged classes—their very condition excludes love, which is the soul of all religions—but from the people. The spirit of God descends on the multitude gathered together in His name. The people have suffered for centuries on the cross; and God will bless them with faith.
You, Most Holy Father, can hasten that moment. I will not tell you my individual opinions on future religious development; these are of little importance. But I will say to you, that, whatever be the destiny of the creeds now existing, you can put yourself at the head of this development. If God wills that such creeds should live again, you can make them live again; if God wills that they should be transformed, that, leaving the foot of the cross, dogma and worship should be purified by taking a step nearer God, the Father and Educator of the world, you can put yourself between the two epochs, and guide the world to the conquest and the practice of religious truth, extirpating excessive materialism and barren negation.
God forbid I should tempt you with ambition; that would seem to me to be profane. I call you, in the name of the power which God has granted you, and has not granted without a reason, to fulfill the good regenerating European work. I call you, after so many centuries of doubt and corruption, to be an apostle of Eternal Truth. I call you to make yourself the “servant of all”, to sacrifice yourself, if necessary, so that “God's will may be done on the earth as it is in heaven”; to hold yourself ready to glorify God in victory or to repeat with resignation, if you ever succumb, the words of Gregory VII: “I die in exile, because I have loved justice and hated iniquity”.
But for this, to fulfill the mission which God confides to you, two things are necessary: to be a believer and to unify Italy. Without the former, you will fall by the way, abandoned by God and by men; without the latter, you will not have the lever with which only you can effect great, holy and enduring things.
Be a believer; abhor being a king, a politician, a statesman. Make no compromise with error; do not contaminate yourself with diplomacy; do not come to terms with fear, with expediency, with the false doctrines of legality, which is merely a falsehood invented when faith failed. Take no counsel except from God, from the inspirations of your own heart, and from the imperious necessity of rebuilding a temple to truth, justice and faith.
Self-collected in enthusiastic love for humanity, and apart from any other regard, ask God to teach you the way: then enter upon it, with the confidence of a conqueror on your brow, with the irrevocable decision of a martyr; look neither to the right nor the left, but straight ahead and up to heaven. To every object that you encounter on the way, ask yourself: Is this just or unjust, true or false, the law of man or the law of God?
Proclaim aloud the result of your examination and act accordingly. Do not say to yourself: “If I speak and work in such a way, the princes of the earth will disagree; the ambassadors will present notes and protests.” What are the quarrels of selfishness in princes, or their notes, before a syllable of the eternal Gospel of God? They have had importance till now, because, being phantoms, they had nothing to oppose them but phantoms. Oppose to them the reality of a man who sees the Divine view—unknown to them—of human affairs: of an immortal soul conscious of a high mission; and they will vanish before you as vapors accumulated in darkness before the sun which rises on the horizon.
Do not let yourself be frightened by perils; the creature who fulfills a duty belongs not to men, but to God. God will protect you; God will spread around you such a halo of love, that neither the perfidy of irreparably lost men, nor the suggestions of hell, can break through it. Give a new, unique spectacle to the world: you will have new results, unforeseen by human calculation. Announce an era; declare that humanity is sacred and a daughter of God; that all who violate her rights to progress and association are on the way of error; that God is the source of every government; that those who are the best according to intellect, heart, genius and virtue, must be the guides of the people. Bless those who suffer and fight; blame and reprove those who cause suffering, without regard to the name they bear, or the rank that invests them. The people will adore in you the best interpreter of the Divine design, and your conscience will give you rest, strength and ineffable comfort.
Unify Italy, your fatherland. For this you have no need to work, but to bless those who work through you and in your name. Gather round you those who best represent the national party. Do not beg for alliances with princes. Continue to seek the alliance of our own people. Say to us: “The unity of Italy ought to be a fact of the nineteenth century”, and it will suffice; we shall work for you. Leave our pens free; leave free the circulation of ideas in what regards this point, vital for us, of the national unity. Treat the Austrian government, even when it no longer menaces your territory, with the reserve of one who knows that it governs by usurpation in Italy and elsewhere. Fight it with words of a just man, wherever it carries out oppressions and violations of the rights of others outside of Italy. In the name of the God of Peace, invite the Jesuits allied with Austria in Switzerland to withdraw from that country, where their presence prepares an inevitable and speedy bloodshed of the citizens. Give a word of sympathy which shall become public to the first Pole of Galicia who comes into your presence.
In short, show us by some fact that you intend not only to improve the physical condition of your own few subjects, but that you embrace in your love the millions of Italians as your brothers; that you believe them to be called by God to unite in family unity under one single covenant; that you would bless the national flag wherever it should be raised by pure and uncontaminated hands; and leave the rest to us. We will cause to rise around you a nation over whose free and popular development you, by living, shall preside. We will found a government unique in Europe, which shall destroy the absurd divorce between spiritual and temporal power, and in which you shall be chosen to represent the principle of which the men chosen to represent the nation will make the application.
We shall know how to translate into a potent fact the instinct which palpitates throughout all Italy. We will excite active support for you among the nations of Europe; we will find you friends even in the ranks of Austria; we alone, because we alone have unity of design and believe in the truth of our principle, and have never betrayed it.
Do not fear excesses from the people once entered upon this road; the people only commit excesses when left to their own impulses without any guide whom they respect. Do not hesitate before the idea of becoming a cause of war. War exists everywhere: open or latent, but near breaking out and inevitable; nor can human power prevent it. Nor, Most Holy Father, do I address these words to you because I doubt in the least of our destiny, or because I believe you to be the sole indispensable means of the enterprise.
The unity of Italy is a work of God: a part of the design of Providence and a wish of all, even of those who show themselves most satisfied with local improvements, and who, less sincere than I, wish to make them means of attaining their own aims.
It will be fulfilled, with you or without you. But I address you, because I believe you are worthy of taking the initiative in a work so vast; because putting yourself at the head of it would do much to bridge the road and diminish the dangers, injury and blood that will be spilled in the struggle; because with you the conflict would assume a religious aspect and free us from the many risks of civil reaction and offenses; because a political result and a vast moral result might be attained at once under your banner; because the revival of Italy under the aegis of a religious idea, of a banner not of rights, but of duties, would leave behind all the revolutions of foreign countries, and would immediately place Italy at the head of European progress; because it is in your power to cause that God and the People―two terms too often fatally separated―should meet at once in beautiful and holy harmony, to direct the fate of nations.
If I could be near you, I would invoke from God power to convince you, by gesture, by accent, by tears; now I can only confide to the paper the cold corpse, as it were, of my thought; nor can I ever have the certainty that you have read and meditated a moment upon what I write. But I feel an imperious necessity of fulfilling this duty toward Italy and toward you, and, whatsoever you may think of it, I shall find myself more in peace with my conscience for having thus addressed you.
Believe, Most Holy Father, in the feelings of veneration and of high hope which I profess to you.
Your most devoted,
Giuseppe Mazzini
Placiti Cassinesi
[“Placiti Cassinesi”, 960-963 AD.]
Early Italian:
Sao ke kelle terre, per kelle fini que ki contene, trenta anni le possette parte Sancti Benedicti. (Capua, Marzo 960)
Sao cco kelle terre, per kelle fini que tebe monstrai, Pergoaldi foro, que ki contene, et trenta anni le possette. (Sessa, Marzo 963)
Kella terra, per kelle fini que bobe mostrai, sancte Marie è, et trenta anni la posset parte sancte Marie. (Teano, Luglio 963)
Sao cco kelle terre, per kelle fini que tebe mostrai, trenta anni le possette parte sancte Marie. (Teano, Ottobre 963)
English:
“I know those lands, whose borders are shown in the map, have been owned by St. Benedict's region for thirty years.” (Capua, March 960)
“I know those lands, whose borders I have showed you, were property of Pergoald, and here are part of, and it has owned them for thirty years.” (Sessa, March 963)
“That land, whose borders I have showed you, is property of St. Mary, and St. Mary's region has owned it for thirty years.” (Teano, July 963)
“I know those lands, whose borders I have showed you, have been owned by St. Mary for thirty years.” (Teano, October 963)
Early Italian:
Sao ke kelle terre, per kelle fini que ki contene, trenta anni le possette parte Sancti Benedicti. (Capua, Marzo 960)
Sao cco kelle terre, per kelle fini que tebe monstrai, Pergoaldi foro, que ki contene, et trenta anni le possette. (Sessa, Marzo 963)
Kella terra, per kelle fini que bobe mostrai, sancte Marie è, et trenta anni la posset parte sancte Marie. (Teano, Luglio 963)
Sao cco kelle terre, per kelle fini que tebe mostrai, trenta anni le possette parte sancte Marie. (Teano, Ottobre 963)
English:
“I know those lands, whose borders are shown in the map, have been owned by St. Benedict's region for thirty years.” (Capua, March 960)
“I know those lands, whose borders I have showed you, were property of Pergoald, and here are part of, and it has owned them for thirty years.” (Sessa, March 963)
“That land, whose borders I have showed you, is property of St. Mary, and St. Mary's region has owned it for thirty years.” (Teano, July 963)
“I know those lands, whose borders I have showed you, have been owned by St. Mary for thirty years.” (Teano, October 963)
Veronese Riddle
[“Indovinello veronese”, 8th-9th century AD.]
Late Vulgar Latin / Early Italian:
Se pareba boves
alba pratalia araba
et albo versorio teneba
et negro semen seminaba.
Italian:
Teneva davanti a sé i buoi,
arava bianchi prati,
e aveva un bianco aratro
e un nero seme seminava.
English:
He led the oxen,
plowed white fields,
held a white plow,
and sowed black seed.
Late Vulgar Latin / Early Italian:
Se pareba boves
alba pratalia araba
et albo versorio teneba
et negro semen seminaba.
Italian:
Teneva davanti a sé i buoi,
arava bianchi prati,
e aveva un bianco aratro
e un nero seme seminava.
English:
He led the oxen,
plowed white fields,
held a white plow,
and sowed black seed.
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