PISTELLI, ERMENGELDO. - Philologist and writer, born in Camaiore (Lucca) on 15 Feb. 1862, died in Florence on 14 Jan. 1927. A Piarist in 1884, he graduated in letters in Florence, taught in the Scuole Pie, and from 1903 until his death taught Latin and Greek at the Istituto di studi superiori in Florence.
He prepared critical editions of several works and commented on school texts. Girolamo Vitelli entrusted him with the task of searching for ancient papyri in Egypt, and he was also a learned editor of papyri and parchment manuscripts, especially biblical ones. From 1906 to 1920 he was a zealous collaborator of Luigi Bertelli in the *Giornalino della domenica*. Notable are *Le Pistole d'Omero*. In the two volumes *Profili e caratteri* (Florence 1921) and *Eroi uomini e ragazzi* (ibid. 1927), he collected a small part of the many critical essays, reviews, and prose pieces he had published in journals and newspapers. He was also a passionate student of Dante’s works and effectively argued for reform of the Italian school system.