GIANNONE, PIETRO (1676-1748), Italian historian, was born at Ischitella, in Capitanata, on May 7, 1676. He spent 20 years on his great work, the Storia civile del regno di Napoli (1723). In this work he espoused the side of the civil power in its conflicts with the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Hooted by the mob of Naples, and excommunicated by the archbishop's court, he left Naples and went to Vienna. Meanwhile his history was put on the Index. At Vienna he received a pension and facilities for the prosecution of his historical studies. Of these the most important result was Il Triregno, ossia del regno del cielo, della terra, e del papa. On the transfer of the Neapolitan crown to Charles of Bourbon, Giannone lost his Austrian pension and was compelled to remove to Venice. Unhappily there arose a suspicion that his views on maritime law were not favourable to the pre tensions of Venice, and this suspicion, together with clerical in trigues, led to his expulsion from the State. On Sept. 23, he was seized and conveyed to Ferrara. After wandering under an assumed name for three months through Modena, Milan and Turin, he at last reached Geneva. But while on a visit to a Catho lic village within Sardinian territory in order to hear mass on Easter day, he was kidnapped by the agents of the Sardinian Gov ernment, conveyed to the castle of Miolans and thence succes sively transferred to Ceva and Turin. In the fortress of Turin he spent the remaining 12 years of his life, although part of his time was spent in composing a defence of the Sardinian interests as opposed to those of the papal court, and he was led to sign a retractation of the statements in his history most obnoxious to the Vatican . He died on March 7, in his 72nd year. See the notice by L. Panzini, based on Giannone's unpublished Autobiografia, in the Milan edition of the historian's works (1823) ; and Opere inedite (Turin, 1859), containing the works written by him in his Turin prison, and edited by P. S. Mancini. G. Bonacci, Saggio sully Storia civile del Giannone (Florence, 1903) is a bitter attack on Giannone, and although the writer's remarks on the plagiarisms in the Storia civile are justified, the charge of servility is greatly exaggerated.