GIOVANNI ITALO. — Hellenist of the 11th century, in southern Italy (the Calabrian origin is by no means proven). He followed his father on a military campaign in Sicily and around 1043 went to Constantinople, where he devoted himself to the study of letters. First a disciple and then successor of Michael Psellus in the office of σπαρτος τών φιλοσόφων (princeps philosophorum), he shared his enthusiasm for Greek antiquity and for the Neoplatonic philosophers Porphyry, Proclus, and Iamblichus, whose works he commented on in his very frequent lectures.
Highly skilled in dialectic, he applied its method to theology, expounding the dogmas of Christianity according to the principles and notions of Aristotelianism. This method of his, and especially the zeal he showed in promoting the study of ancient letters and philosophy, provoked strong reactions in the ecclesiastical and above all monastic environment of Constantinople, where he was accused of adhering to Neoplatonic doctrines. In 1075–76, nine propositions were condemned in which public opinion believed it recognized the teaching of G. But he himself was not molested. In March 1082, however, following a popular movement and a trial, G. was condemned and confined to a monastery. He later made a retraction, and his sentence was mitigated.
His writings do not display any originality, with the exception of a collection of 93 short compositions of varied origin. G. was far from endorsing all the errors attributed to him. An admirer of antiquity for its own sake, he illustrated its thought believing he could bridge the clear separation between it and Christianity; in this respect he was a precursor of humanism.
Most of his works remain unpublished. G. Cereteli, Johannis Ital., opuscula selecta, fasc. 1, Tiflis 1924; fasc. 11, ibid. 1926.