VARTHEMA, Ludovico di (Barthema, Vertomannus). Bologna 1470? — Rome before June 1517. Italian Traveller in India. Claiming to have started his travels only in order to win fame he left Italy late in 1502 and travelled on the route Venice–Cairo–Beyrout–Damas–Mecca (the first known non-Muslim there), using Muslim robe (under the…
VALLAURI, Mario. Viareggio (Lucca) 31.7.1887 — Dronero (Cuneo) 19.9.1964. Italian Indologist. Professor in Turin. Born in an old Piemontese family, son of Giuseppe Vallauri (1840–1902) and Maddalena Pronetti. Studied Indology at Naples under Kerbaker(degree 1911). Further studies in 1912 at Florence under Pavolini and 1913-14 at Würzburg under Jolly, concentrating…
ORAZIO DELLA PENNA DI BILLI, Francesco (Franciscus Horatius a Pennabilli; lay conte Luzio Olivieri). Pennabilli, Marche ?.11.1680 — Patan, Nepal 20.7.1745. Count. Italian Capuchin Missionary in Tibet. Born as an Italian nobleman, son of count Orazio Olivieri and his wife Francesca, entered the Capuchin monastery of Pietrarubbia in 1700.As a member…
ODORICO DA PORDENONE (Odorico Mattiuzzi). 1265/74/86 — Udine 14.1.1331. Italian Franciscan Friar and Traveller in Asia. From Pordenone in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Wrote a famous account of his journey to China and Central Asia. Started for his journey between 1314/18, together with James of Ireland, and remained several years in the…
NORSA, Umberto. Mantova 16.12.1866 — Mantova 5.4.1943. Italian Polyglot Author and Translator. Born in a Jewish family, educated in Mantova, already then (1881) translated Catull’s poems. Law studies at Bologna, where he also attended the classes of Giosuè Carducci. Beside classical languages and German, learned now Spanish, Polish and English,…
NITTI-DOLCI, Luigia. Naples 31.7.1903 — Paris 1.1.1939. Italo-French Indologist in Paris. Daughter of Francesco Saverio Nitti (1868–1953), a politician holding important positions in pre-fascist Italy (Prime Minister 1919-20), and Antonia Persico. Educated in Naples (school and university, studied classics). In 1923 the family escaped the fascists to Geneva. Herself she…
NAZARI, Oreste. Turin 20.5.1866 — 1923. Italian Indologist and Linguist. Professor in Palermo. Student of Gorresio. For a while teacher in Turin, 1898-1901 also PD at the university, then professore ordinario di sanscrito (Crisanti first straordinario) e incaricato di storia comparata delle lingue classiche e neolatine at Reale Università di…
MORINI, Giuseppe. 18?? — 1???. Italian interested in Sanskrit, fl. in the 1880s. One G.M. (1842–1923) was gymnasium professor in Faenza in 1873, when he published the textbook Precetti di letteratura italiana. He was a friend of Giosue Carducci. Publications: Vālmīki. Il lamento dei genitori di Jajñadatta; brano del Rāmāyaṇa…
MONSERRATE, Antonio de (Antoni de Montserrat). Vic, Barcelona 1536? — Salsette 26.10.1605. Father. S.J. Spanish (Catalan) Missionary in India. Joined S.J. 1556, studied at Coimbra, then served in Lisbon and left for India in 1574. Together with Rodolpho Aquaviva and Francisco Enriques he travelled in 1569 to Surat and to…
MONNERET DE VILLARD, Ugo. Milano 16.1.1881 — Rome 5.11.1954. Italian Archaeologist, Art Historian and Oriental Scholar, a specialist of Egypt anf Ethiopia, but with wide interests including Iran and North-West India. Son of Enrico M. de V. and Anna Foli. Studied engineering and architecture in Milano (graduated 1904), but soon…