GOLFIERI, GAETANO. – Priest and writer, born in Bologna on 7 June 1808, died there in February 1890. He served as a tutor in the household of Count Giovanni Marchetti and for many years as a teacher at the diocesan seminary, librarian, and professor of rhetoric at the University of Bologna. In 1859, to avoid taking the oath of loyalty to the new government, he resigned his chair, which was then taken by Carducci.
His Poesie (2 vols., Bologna 1867), following the mountain tradition of the Romagna classical school, embrace occasional themes: religious festivals, weddings, deaths, graduations. Of some interest, however, are the rhythmic prose of his Salmi (the popular hymn of 1848 for Pius IX, “Su, fratelli, a letizia si canti,” widely circulated to the tune of Rossini, is by G.), the short poems: S. Pio V and Le glorie del Pontificato, dedicated to Leo XIII, in which the author expounds his views on the events of the Italian Risorgimento.