Guarino Veronese or Guarino da Verona (1374 – 14 December 1460) was an Italian

classical scholar Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

, and translator of ancient Greek texts during the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

. In the republics of

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

and

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

he studied under Manuel Chrysoloras ( 1350–1415), renowned professor of Greek and ambassador of the

Byzantine emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

Manuel II Palaiologos, the first scholar to hold such courses in

medieval Italy The history of Italy in the Middle Ages can be roughly defined as the time between the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and the Italian Renaissance. Late antiquity in Italy lingered on into the 7th century under the Ostrogothic Kingdom and ...

Biography

He was born in

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

, and later studied

Greek language Greek (, ; , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic languages, Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece, Cyprus, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), south ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, at the time capital of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

, where for five years he was the pupil of the renowned

Byzantine Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic; Greek: ) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the F ...

scholar, Renaissance humanist, and professor Manuel Chrysoloras. When he set out to return home, he had with him two cases of precious manuscripts of ancient Greek texts which he had taken great pains to collect. It is said that the loss of one of these by shipwreck caused him such distress that his hair turned grey in a single night. On arriving back in Italy, he earned a living as a teacher of Greek, first in

and afterwards in

and

. In 1436, he became a professor of Greek in Ferrara through the patronage of Leonello, Marquis of Este. His method of instruction was renowned and it attracted many students from Italy and the rest of

medieval Europe In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

as distant as the

Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from the late 9th century, when it was unified from various Heptarchy, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland to f ...

. Many of them, notably the Italian Renaissance humanist and teacher Vittorino da Feltre, afterwards became well-known scholars and, as Vittorino would later, would support poor students from his funds. From 1438 on, he served as an interpreter for the Byzantine Greek participants at the ecumenical councils of Ferrara and Florence (1431–1449). He was particularly influenced by the Byzantine Greek scholar and philosopher Gemistus Pletho. He died in Ferrara in 1460. His principal works are translations of

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

and of some of the ''Lives'' of

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

, a compendium of the Greek grammar of Chrysoloras, and a series of commentaries on Persius,

Martial Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman and Celtiberian poet born in Bilbilis, Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of '' Epigrams'', pu ...

, the Satires of Juvenal, and some of the writings of

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

and

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

. The layout of the Studiolo of the Palazzo Belfiore is also attributed to him. He corresponded with the writer and humanist Isotta Nogarola.

References

Sources

* *
''Guarino da Verona''
from Catholic Encyclopedia
Guarino da Verona in Ferrara
* *Durant, Will. (1953). ''The Renaissance''. The Story of Civilization. 5. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 269. * Omont, Henri: Portrait de Guarino de Veronese, Bulletin de la Société Nationale des Antiquaires de France, 1904, 323–326. https://archive.org/stream/bulletin1904sociuoft#page/n339/mode/2up (Book mentioned in this article, there is today: University of Minnesota, James Ford Bell Library, ms. 1460/f St.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Guarino da Verona 1374 births 1460 deaths 14th-century Italian writers 14th-century writers in Latin 14th-century translators 14th-century Venetian writers 15th-century writers in Latin 15th-century translators 15th-century Venetian writers Byzantine Empire–Republic of Venice relations Expatriates from the Republic of Venice Greek–Latin translators Interpreters Italian classical scholars Italian Renaissance humanists Italian Renaissance writers Translators of Ancient Greek texts Translators of Homer Venetian Renaissance humanists Writers from Verona