GOLFIERI, GAETANO. - Priest and writer, b. in Bologna on 7 June 1808, d. there in February 1889. He was tutor in the household of Count Giovanni Marchetti and for many years teacher at the diocesan Seminary, librarian, and professor of eloquence at the University of Bologna. In order not to be obliged to swear allegiance to the new government, in 1859 he left his chair, to which Carducci succeeded.
His Poesie (2 vols., Bologna 1867), in the Montian tradition according to the Romagnol classicist school, embrace occasional themes: religious feasts, weddings, deaths, degrees. Of some interest, however, are the rhythmic prose pieces of his Salmi (G. was the author of the popular 1848 hymn for Pio IX: « Su, fratelli, a letizia si canti », popularized to a melody by Rossini), and the short poems: S. Pio V e Le glorie del Pontificato, dedicated to Leone XIII, in which the author summarizes his thought on the events of the Italian Risorgimento.