GIANNONE,, jan-ne'nti, PIETRO ( 1676-1748). An eminent Italian historian, born May 7, 1676, at Ischitella, in the Neapolitan Province of Capitana ta. He early distinguished himself as a lawyer at Naples, and soon accumulated sufficient means to enable him to devote considerable time and energy to historical research. Early in life he had con ceived the idea of writing a history of the King dom of Naples, and now in his villa adjoining Naples he labored for twenty years at this, his greatest historical work, which he published in 1723 in four volumes, under the title of Storia eivile del regno di Napoli. This valuable and comprehensive work not only treats of the civil history of the kingdom, but also contains learned and critical dissertations on the laws and cus toms and the administrative history of Naples, from the most remote times, tracing the succes sive working of Greek, Roman, and Christian in fluences on the legislative and social institutions. His severe strictures on the spirit and prac tices of the modern Roman Catholic Church so enraged the ecclesiastical party that Giannone was denounced and anathematized by the Church. The fanaticism of the lower classes was aroused by the calumnies leveled at the writer, who was finally excommunicated by the Archbishop of Naples, and forced to take refuge first at Venice, and later at Vienna, and other places. His history
was condemned as heretical and libelous by the Pope. Giannone. however, was granted a small pension by the Emperor Charles VI. In 1734 he was deprived of this income, and removed to Venice, whence he was expelled, and forced to seek shelter in Geneva. There he composed his famous diatribe, entitled 11 triregno, against the Papal pretensions, and proclaimed his adoption of Calvinistic doctrines. Shortly after, an emis sary from the Court of Turin induced Giannone to enter the Sardinian States, where he was im mediately arrested, and conducted to the fortress of Turin. lie passed the long years of his prison life in the pursuit of his chosen studies, and re tracted his change of religious opinions, a step which in no way improved his condition. He died a prisoner in the fortress, March 7, 1748, after an incarceration of twelve years. His Opere postume (Lausanne, 1760), and his Opere inedite, edited by Mancini (Turin, 1859), complete the list of his historical works. An English transhition of his History of Naples appeared in London (1721) 31). Consult: Panzani, Vita di Giannone (Naples, 1821) ; Pierantoni, Autobiografia di Pietro Gian none, i suoi tempi e la sus. prigionia (Rome, 1890).