Girolamo Tiraboschi was an Italian literary critic, the first historian of Italian literature

Italian literature

Italian literature is literature written in the Italian language, particularly within Italy. It may also refer to literature written by Italians or in Italy in other languages spoken in Italy, often languages that are closely related to modern Italian....

.

Biography

Born in Bergamo

Bergamo

Bergamo is a town and comune in Lombardy, Italy, about 40 km northeast of Milan. The comune is home to over 120,000 inhabitants. It is served by the Orio al Serio Airport, which also serves the Province of Bergamo, and to a lesser extent the metropolitan area of Milan...

, he studied at the Jesuit

Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

 college in Monza

Monza

Monza is a city and comune on the river Lambro, a tributary of the Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy some 15 km north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of Monza and Brianza. It is best known for its Grand Prix motor racing circuit, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.On June...

, entered the order, and was appointed in 1755 professor of eloquence in the University of Milan

University of Milan

The University of Milan is a higher education institution in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Europe, with about 62,801 students, a teaching and research staff of 2,455 and a non-teaching staff of 2,200....

. Here he produced (1766-1768) Vetera humiliatorum monumenta (3 vols), a history of the extinct order of the Humiliati

Humiliati

The Humiliati were an Italian religious order of men formed probably in the 12th century. It was suppressed by a Papal bull in 1571 though an associated order of women continued into the 20th century.-Origin:Its origin is obscure...

, which made his literary reputation.

Nominated in 1770 as librarian to Francis III, duke of Modena, he turned to account the copious materials there accumulated for the composition of his Storia della letteratura italiana. This vast work, in which Italian literature from the time of the Etruscans to the end of the 17th century is traced in detail, occupied eleven years, 1771-1782, and the thirteen quarto

Quarto

Quarto could refer to:* Quarto, a size or format of a book in which four leaves of a book are created from a standard size sheet of paper* For specific information about quarto texts of William Shakespeare's works, see:...

 volumes embodying it appeared successively in Modena

Modena

Modena is a city and comune on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy....

during that period.

A second enlarged edition (16 vols) was issued from 1787 to 1794, and was succeeded by many others, besides abridgments in German, French and English. Tiraboschi died at Modena on 3 June 1794, leaving a high reputation for virtue, learning and piety.

Tiraboschi also wrote, among many other works:

• Biblioteca modenese (6 vols, 1781-1786)
• Notizie de' pittori, scultori, incisori, ed architetti modenesi (1786)
• Memorie storiche modenesi (5 vols, 1793-1794)

He edited the Nuovo giornale dei letterati d'Italia (1773-1790), and left materials for a work of great research entitled Dizionario topografico-storico degli stati estensi (2 vols, 1824-1825),

Selected publications

• De patriae historia, Milano 1760;
• Vetera Humiliatorum monumenta annotationibus ac dìssertationibus prodromis illustrata, 3 vol, Milano, 1766-68 (on-line);
• Storia della letteratura italiana, Modena, I edizione in in 13 volumi, 1772-1782; II ed. rivista e ampliata, in 15 volumi, più un sedicesimo che contiene l'indice generale, 1787-1794);
• Vita del Conte D. Fulvio Testi, Modena, 1780;
• Biblioteca modenese ovvero notizie della vita e delle opere degli scrittori nati negli stati del duca di Modena, 6 volumi, Modena, 1781-1786 http://books.google.it/books?id=wOwsAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:tiraboschi+inauthor:girolamo&lr=&as_brr=1; http://books.google.it/books?id=5SITAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:tiraboschi+inauthor:girolamo&lr=&as_brr=1;
• Notizie biografiche e letterarie in continuazione della Biblioteca modonese, Reggio, 1796 (on-line)
• Della pittura e della statua di Leonbatista Alberti, Milano, 1804 (on-line)
• Storia dell'augusta abbazia di San Silvestro dì Nonantola, aggiuntovi il Codice Diplomatico della medesima illustrato con note, 2 volumi, Modena, 1784-1789;
• Notizie de' pittori, scultori, incisori, architetti natii degli stati del duca di Modena, Modena, 1786;
• Notizie della Confraternita di San Pietro Martire in Modena, Modena, 1789;
• Riflessioni sugli Scrittori Genealogici, Padova 1789;
• Dell'origine della poesia rimata, opera di Giammaria Barbieri modenese, pubblicata e con annotazioni illustrata dal cav. ab. Girolamo Tiraboschi, Modena 1790;
• Memorie storiche modenesi col Codice Diplomatico illustrato con note, 3 volumi, Modena, 1793-1795;
• Dizionario topografico storico degli stati estensi, Modena, 1824-5 (postumo)