The Early Years

Giacomo Leopardi was born in Recanati, a small Italian town in the heart of the Marche region, which was then part of the Papal States. His father was Count Monaldo Leopardi and his mother was Marquise Adelaide Antici Mattei. The Leopardis were the town’s noble family and owned the only palazzo on Recanati’s main square, but they were far from being rich and comfortable. After a series of bad financial speculations, Monaldo was prohibited from managing the family property, and his wife Adelaide took over the household, inflicting on her husband and eight children (Giacomo being the eldest, although not all survived) an exceedingly strict family regime and a religious devotion that verged on fanaticism. Monaldo

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First published 07 November 2009

Citation: Carrera, Alessandro. "Giacomo Leopardi". The Literary Encyclopedia. 7 November 2009.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2695, accessed 21 November 2009.]