PISTELLI, ERMENEGILDO. - Philologist and writer, b. at Camaiore (Lucca) on 15 Feb. 1862, d. at Firenze on 14 Jan. 1927. A Piarist in 1884, after graduating in letters at Firenze, he taught in the Piarist schools and, from 1903 until his death, Latin and Greek at the Institute of Higher Studies in Firenze.
He prepared critical editions of several works and commented on school texts. Girolamo Vitelli entrusted him with the task of seeking ancient papyri in Egypt. He was also a learned editor of papyrus and parchment texts, especially biblical ones. From 1906 to 1920 he was a zealous collaborator of Luigi Bertelli on the Giornalino della domenica. Notable are Le Pistole d'Omero. In the two volumes Profili e caratteri (Firenze 1921), Eroi uomini e ragazzi (ibid. 1927), he collected a small part of the many critical essays, reviews, and prose pieces published in journals and newspapers. He was also a passionate cultivator of Dante studies, and effectively engaged in polemics for the reform of the Italian school system.