MELI, GIOVANNI. – Poet. Born in Palermo in March 1740, died there on 20 Dec. 1815. A pupil of the Jesuits, he served as a district physician in Cinisi for five years, later becoming a professor of chemistry at the Palermo Academy of Studies. He was called “abbot” and wore clerical garb without having even minor orders.
Of Arcadian poetry he retained only, and not always, its external motifs; his true inspiration was the aspiration for justice and peace, sought in country life and in communion with the wisdom of his people (his *Rime* are explicitly directed toward reformist programs).
BIBL.: C. Respighi, *Nuovo studio su P. Luigi da Palestrina e l'emendazione del Graduale romano*, Rome 1901; F. P. Wagner, *Neumarkunde*, Leipzig 1912; P. Ferretti, *Estetica gregoriana*, Rome 1934; P. Thomas, *Storia del canto gregoriano*, 1951.