Giacomo Leopardi

Giacomo Leopardi (1798 to 1837) was an Italian poet, philosopher, essayist, and philologist widely considered the greatest Italian poet of the nineteenth century and one of the principal figures of literary Romanticism. Writing from a secluded town in the conservative Papal States, he nonetheless engaged with Enlightenment ideas and produced a body of lyric poetry whose constant reflection on existence and the human condition, rooted in a sensuous and materialist outlook, has also earned him recognition as a serious philosopher. He is counted, together with Alessandro Manzoni, among the crowns of Italian Romanticism, and his strongly lyrical poetry made him a central figure in European literary culture.