ITALIAN VERSIONS. The earliest version of the Scriptures into the modern Italian is said to have been made by Giacomo da Viraggio (Jacobus Voragine), Archbishop of Genoa, in the begin ning of the 13th century. This rests exclusively on the authority of Sixtus Senensis (Biblioth. Sanct., lib. 4), and there is weighty reason for doubting the statement. That at an early period, however, versions of parts, if not of the whole, of Scripture into Italian were made, is evidenced by the existence in various libraries of MSS. containing these. In the Royal Library at Paris is an Italian Bible in two vols. fol., as well as several codices containing parts of the Bible in that language ; in the library at Upsala is a codex containing a histmy compiled from the first seven books of the O. T. in Italian ; in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, is an Italian translation of the N. T., with Portions of the Old : and in other libraries like reliques are preserved (see Le Long, Bib. Sac., cap. vi., sec. t).
The earliest printed Italian Bible is that of Nicolo di Malermi (or Malherbi), a Venetian Benedictine monk of the order of Camaldoli ; it appeared under the title of .Biblia Volgare Histo riota, etc., Venice 1471. The tmnslation is from the Vulgate, and is pronounced by R. Simon to be executed in a harsh style and carelessly (Hist. Crit. du N. T, p. 487). It was, however, repeatedly reprinted ; the best editions are, that superintended by Marini, 2 vols. fol., Ven. 1477, and that issued at Venice in vol. fol. in 1567. In 1530 Antonio Bruccioli [Brarectou] issued his translation of the N. T., and in 1532 the first edition of his transla tion of the entire Bible, containing a revised and corrected translation of the N. T., under the title of La Biblia the contiene Sacri libri del vecchio Testamento Eradotto nuovamente de la Hebraica vert?a in lingua .Toscana, con libri del N. T.
tradotti da Greco in ling. Tose. con privilegio de lo inclito Senato Veneta, e letera Francesco I. Rege Christianissimo, fol. Ven. ap. Luc. Ant. Juntm. This translation is said by Simon to follow in the O. T. the Latin version of Pagnini rather than to be made from the original Hebrew, and to partake of the rudeness and barbarism of Pagnini's style. It was put in the index of the prohibited books among works of the first class. Many editions of
it, however, appeared ; of which the most impor tant is that of Zanetti, 3 vols. fol., Ven. 154o. Bruccioli's version of the O. T. in a corrected form was printed at Geneva in 1562, along with a new version of the N. T. by Gallars and Beza ; to this notes are added, and especially an exposition of the Apocalypse. The translation of Marmochini, though professedly original, is in reality only a re vised edition of that of Bruccioli, the design of which was to bring it more fully into accordance with the Vulgate. Several translations of the Psalms, some from the Hebrew, and of other parts of Scripture, appeared in Italy between the middle and end of the ˘6th century, and a new translation of the N. T., by a Florentine of the name of Zacharia, appeared in 8vo at Venice in 1542, and at Florence in 1566 ; copies of which are now ex tremely rare. The Jew David de Pomis issued a translation of Ecclesiastes with the original Hebrew, Ven. 1578.
In 1607 appeared at Geneva the first Protestant Italian version, that of Giovanni Diodati[DionATI]: La Biblia : Cia2 I Libri del Vecchio e del Nuava 7'estamento, sm. fol. To this are appended brief marginal notes. This version was made directly from the original texts, and stands in high esteem for fidelity. It has been repeatedly reprinted. Being in the plain Lucchese dialect, it is especially adapted for circulation among the common people.
A version affecting greater elegance, but by no means so faithful, is that of Antonio Martini, Archbishop of Florence. The N. T. appeared at Turin in 1769, and the O. T. in 1779, both accom panied with the text of the Vulgate and with copious notes, chiefly from the fathers. This work received the approbation of Pope Pius VI. It is made avowedly from the Vulgate, and is in the pure Tuscan dialect. Repeated editions have ap peared ; one issued at Livorno (Leghorn), and those issued by the British and Foreign Bible Society, Lond. 1813, 1821, want the notes, and have been consequently placed in the index of pro hibited books. To read and circulate this book, though bearing the Papal sanction, was till lately a grave offence, as the well-known case of the Madiai in Florence proves.—W. L. A.