QUIRICO VIVIANI. – Priest and man of letters, born at Soligo (Treviso) in 1784, died at Padua on 9 November 1835.
He completed his studies in Padua under the guidance of Cesarotti, who always assisted and protected him. Ordained priest, he settled in Udine, where he taught Italian and history at the local Lyceum, while at the same time publishing collections of verse (Canzoni militari, Brescia 1807) and works of profound scholarship, such as the critical edition of the Divina Commedia according to the Bartolinian codex, translations of Vitruvius’s De Architectura, Virgil’s Eclogues, Paul the Deacon’s Historia Langobardorum, and a Discourse on the nature of scientific institutions in the 19th century. Among his extensive output, one should also recall numerous translations of contemporary French works, collections of maxims that achieved wide success and were translated into several languages, as well as a Philosophical Manual of the Italian Language, which death prevented him from completing. Entirely averse to politics, he was nonetheless forced to leave his Udine chair with the fall of the Kingdom of Italy; he then retired to Padua, devoting himself exclusively to study and charity. To this truly apostolic aspect of his activity belongs an eloquent Oration of a social character, in which he examined the phenomenon of pauperism and pointed out the most suitable means to resolve it within the framework of Christian charity.