GUARINO THE VERONESE. - Humanist, b. at Verona in 1374, d. at Ferrara on 4 Dec. 1460. A pupil at Padua of Giovanni Conversino da Ravenna and at Constantinople of Chrysoloras, on his return to his homeland he taught classical letters at Florence, Venice, and Verona, until in 1429 he was called to Ferrara by Prince Nicolò III d'Este for the education of his son Lionello. There G. began to teach grammar, rhetoric and history both at the University and in his own house. In the latter, as already at Verona, he established a kind of boarding school, to which pupils flocked from all sides, even from abroad; it was free for poor students and conducted with an intimate family spirit.
To classical culture, for which pagan and Christian authors were read and commented upon, well harmonized together, were joined physical exercises (gymnastics, hunting, dancing, swimming); thus putting into practice the exercise of all the pupil's spiritual and physical faculties and forming him sound and cultured at one and the same time. He then continued his work through individual correspondence with his pupils, offering them advice and encouragement suited to the various circumstances. This makes the abundant epistolary collection (edited by R. Sabbadini, 3 vols., Venice 1915-19) very interesting.
Without wishing to regard the times before him as darkened by ignorance, one cannot nevertheless deny that G. exercised a notable influence on Ferrarese culture, both with regard to the traditions of the boarding school and with regard to classicism, because he knew how to cultivate the study of authors, not as an end in itself and for mere aesthetic taste, but for true formation for life, watching over it and permeating it with religious spirit. The practices of piety, in fact, were frequent and G. preceded his pupils by example.
A passionate researcher of codices, he emended and prepared editions of the classics (Caesar, Gellius, the two Plinys, etc.), translated the first book of Herodotus, Isocrates, Plutarch (De liberis educandis, 1476), Lucian, Strabo, also concerning himself with grammatical (Regulae grammaticales, 1470) and philological questions.
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The diocese was created on 13 Sept. 1828 by Pope Leo XII at the request of Maria Luisa of Parma. The first bishop was J. Neuschel, a Hungarian. From as early as 1471 G. had been an archpriesthood nullius; even earlier it had belonged to the diocese of Reggio Emilia. The name is due to the Lombards, who at the beginning of the 7th century established a military garrison in this place, "Warstall." It was a free commune from 1106, a county of the Torelli in 1406; then of a branch of the Gonzaga (1539-1746). Its most flourishing period came with the duchy of Ferrante II in 1621. It passed to the duchy of Parma in 1748, by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle; in 1800 it was a principality for less than a month under Pauline Bonaparte, then united to the Kingdom of Italy. The Treaty of Fontainebleau assigned it to Maria Luisa of Parma. The Cathedral dedicated to St. Peter is the work of Francesco di Volterra (1575); its interior has a single nave. To the southeast of G. is the basilica of the Pieve, erected by Berengar I in 915; it was consecrated in 997. Urban II convened a Synod there in 1095; Paschal I the Council known as that of G. in 1106. It was renovated in the 13th century and restored in 1930. Two rows of pillars divide it into three naves, all ending in an apse.