His poems have often been reprinted, the best editions being those of Le Monnier, Carducci (1859; 3rd ed., 1879), Fioretti (1876) and Bragi (1890). Besides the poems and the proverbs already mentioned, we have a volume of select letters, full of vigour and written in the best Tuscan language, and a fine critical discourse on Giuseppe Parini, the satirical poet. In some of his compositions the elegiac rather than the satirical poet is seen. Many of his verses have been excellently translated into German by Paul Heyse. Good English translations were published in the Athenaeum by Mrs T. A. Trollope, and some by W. D. Howells are in his Modern Italian Poets (1887).
GIUSTINIANI, the name of a prominent Italian family which originally belonged to Venice, but established itself subsequently in Genoa also, and at various times had representatives in Naples, Corsica and several of the islands of the Archipelago.
In the Venetian line the following are most worthy of mention:—
1. Lorenzo (1380-1465), the Laurentius Justinianus of the Roman calendar, at an early age entered the congregation of the canons of St George in Alga, and in 1433 became general of that order. About the same time he was made by Eugenius IV. bishop of Venice; and his episcopate was marked by considerable activity in church extension and reform. On the removal of the patriarchate from Grado to Venice by Nicholas V. in 1451, Giustiniani was promoted to that dignity, which he held for fourteen years. He died on January 8, 1465, was canonized by Pope Alexander VIII., his festival (semi-duplex) being fixed by Innocent XII. for September 5th, the anniversary of his elevation to the bishopric. His works, consisting of sermons, letters and ascetic treatises, have been frequently reprinted,—the best edition being that of the Benedictine P. N. A. Giustiniani, published at Venice in 2 vols. folio, 1751. They are wholly devoid of literary merit. His life has been written by Bernard Giustiniani, by Maffei and also by the Bollandists.
2. Leonardo (1388-1446), brother of the preceding, was for some years a senator of Venice, and in 1443 was chosen procurator of St Mark. He translated into Italian Plutarch’s Lives of Cinna and Lucullus, and was the author of some poetical pieces, amatory and religious—strambotti and canzonetti—as well as of rhetorical prose compositions. Some of the popular songs set to music by him became known as Giustiniani.
3. Bernardo (1408-1489), son of Leonardo, was a pupil of Guarino and of George of Trebizond, and entered the Venetian senate at an early age. He served on several important diplomatic missions both to France and Rome, and about 1485 became one of the council of ten. His orations and letters were published in 1492; but his title to any measure of fame he possesses rests upon his history of Venice, De origine urbis Venetiarum rebusque ab ipsa gestis historia (1492), which was translated into Italian by Domenichi in 1545, and which at the time of its appearance was undoubtedly the best work upon the subject of which it treated. It is to be found in vol. i. of the Thesaurus of Graevius.
4. Pietro, also a senator, lived in the 16th century, and wrote on Historia rerum Venetarum in continuation of that of Bernardo. He was also the author of chronicles De gestis Petri Mocenigi and De bello Venetorum cum Carolo VIII. The latter has been reprinted in the Script. rer. Ital. vol. xxi.
Of the Genoese branch of the family the most prominent members were the following:—
5. Paolo, di Moniglia (1444-1502), a member of the order of Dominicans, was, from a comparatively early age, prior of their convent at Genoa. As a preacher he was very successful, and his talents were fully recognized by successive popes, by whom he was made master of the sacred palace, inquisitor-general for all the Genoese dominions, and ultimately bishop of Scio and Hungarian legate. He was the author of a number of Biblical commentaries (no longer extant), which are said to have been characterized by great erudition.