Filippino Lippi
Self-portrait. Detail from The Dispute with Simon Magus (1471-1472) Fresco. Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy.
Birth name	Filippo Lippi
Born	c. 1457-58 Prato, Italy
Died	April 20, 1504 Florence, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Field	Painting, Fresco
Training	Filippo Lippi
Movement	Italian Renaissance
Works	Apparition of the Virgin to St Bernard Adoration of the Magi

Apparition of The Virgin to St. Bernard (1486).

Allegory of Music (c. 1500)
Tempera on panel, 61 × 51 cm. Gemaldegalerie, Berlin, Germany.

Mystic Wedding of St Catherine Virgin and Martyr (1501) Basilica of San Domenico, Bologna, Italy

Filippino Lippi (Prato, c. 1457 – April 1504) was an Italian painter working during the High Renaissance in Florence, Italy.

Biography[link]

Born Filippo Lippi in Prato (Tuscany), the illegitimate son of the painter Fra Filippo Lippi and Lucrezia Buti, Filippino first trained under his father. They moved to Spoleto, where Filippino served as shop adjuvant in the construction of the Cathedral there. When his father died in 1469, he completed the frescos with Storie della Vergine (Histories of the Virgin) in the cathedral. Filippino Lippi completed his apprenticeship in the workshop of Botticelli, who had been a pupil of Filippino's father. In 1472, Botticelli also took him as his companion in the Compagnia di San Luca.

His first works greatly resemble those of Botticelli's, but with less sensitivity and subtlety. The very first ones (dating from 1475 onwards) were initially attributed to an anonymous "Amico di Sandro" ("Friend of Botticelli"). Eventually Lippi's style evolved into a more personal and effective one in the years 1480-1485. Works of the early period include: the Madonnas of Berlin, London and Washington, the Journeys of Tobia of the Galleria Sabauda in Turin, Italy, the Madonna of the Sea of Galleria dell'Accademia and the Histories of Ester.

Together with Perugino, Ghirlandaio and Botticelli, Lippi worked on the frescoed decoration of Lorenzo de Medici's villa at Spedaletto. On December 31, 1482 he was commissioned to work on a wall of Sala dell'Udienza of Palazzo Vecchio in Florence (a work never begun). Soon after (probably in 1483-1484) he was called to complete Masaccio's decoration of Brancacci Chapel in the church of the Carmine, left unfinished by the artist's death in 1428. Here he realized the Stories of Saint Peter on the following frescoes: Quarrel with Simon Magus in face of Nero, Resurrection of Teophilus' Son, Saint Peter Jailed, Liberation and Saint Peter's Crucifixion.

The work on the Sala degli Otto di Pratica, in the Palazzo Vecchio, started on February 20, 1486. It is now in the Uffizi Gallery. In the same years Piero di Francesco del Pugliese asked him to paint the altarpiece with Apparition of the Virgin to St. Bernard, now in the Badia Fiorentina, Florence. This is Lippi's most popular picture: a composition of unreal items, with its very particular elongated figures, backed by a phantasmagorical scenario of rocks and almost anthropomorphic trunks. The work can be dated to the 1480–1486 years.

Eventually he worked for Tanai de' Nerli in the Saint Spirit's Church.

On April 21, 1487, Filippo Strozzi asked him to decorate the family chapel in Santa Maria Novella with the Stories of St. John Evangelist and St. Philip. He worked on this piece intermittently, only completing it in 1503, after the customer's death. The windows with musical themes, also designed by Filippino, were completed between June and July 1503. These paintings can be seen as a mirror of the political and religious crisis in Florence at the time: the theme of the fresco, the clash between Christianity and Paganism, was hotly debated in the Florence of Girolamo Savonarola.

Filippino showed his characters in a landscape which recreated the ancient world in its finest details, showing the influence of the Grottesco style he had seen in his journey to Rome. He created in this way an "animated", mysterious, fantastic but also disquieting style, showing the unreality of something as a nightmare. In this way, Filippino portrayed ruthless executioners deformed by grim faces, who raged against the Saints. In the scene with St. Philip expelling a monster from the temple, the statue of the pagan god is a living figure which seems to dare the Christian saint.

In 1488, Lippi moved to Rome, where Lorenzo de' Medici had advised Cardinal Oliviero Carafa to entrust him the decoration of the family chapel in Santa Maria sopra Minerva. These frescoes show a new kind of inspiration, quite different from the earlier works, but confirm his continued research on the themes of the Ancient era. Lippi finished the cycle by 1493.

Lippi's return to Florence is variously assigned to the years going from 1491 to 1494 . Works of this period include: Apparition of Christ to the Virgin (c. 1493, now in Munich), Adoration of the Magi (1496, for the church of San Donato in Scopeto, now in the Uffizi), Sacrifice of Laocoön (end of the century, for the villa of Lorenzo de' Medici at Poggio a Caiano), St. John Baptist and Maddalena (Valori Chapel in San Procolo, Florence, inspired in some way to Luca Signorelli's art). He also worked outside of his mother-country, namely on the Certosa of Pavia and in Prato, where in 1503 he completed the Tabernacle of the Christmas Song, now in the City Museum; in 1501 Lippi realized the Mystic Wedding of St. Catherine for the Basilica of San Domenico in Bologna.

Lippi's last work is the Deposition for the Santissima Annunziata church in Florence, which at his death in April 1504 was unfinished.

Due to Lippi's reputation, on the day of his burial all the workshops of the city closed for him.

Major works[link]

• The Coronation of the Virgin (c. 1480)—Tempera on panel, 90.2 × 223 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
• Madonna with Child, St Anthony of Padua and a Friar (before 1480)—Tempera on wood, 57 × 41.5 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
• Tobias and the Angel (c. 1480)—Tempera on panel, 33 × 23 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
• Portrait of an Old Man (1485)—Detached fresco, 47 × 38 cm, Uffizi, Florence
• Three Angels with Young Tobias (1485)—Oil on panel, 100 × 127 cm, Galleria Sabauda, Turin
• Self-Portrait—Detached fresco on flat tile, 50 × 31 cm, Uffizi, Florence
• Portrait of a Youth (c. 1485)—Wood, 51 × 35.5 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
• Signoria Altarpiece (Pala degli Otto) (1486)—Tempera on wood, 355 × 255 cm, Uffizi, Florence
• Annunciation with St. Thomas and Cardinal Carafa (1488–1493)—Fresco, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome
• Apparition of the Virgin to St. Bernard (1486)—Oil on panel, 210 × 195 cm, Church of Badia, Florence
• Madonna with Child and Saints (c. 1488)—Oil on wood, Santo Spirito, Florence
• St. Jerome (1490s)—Oil on wood, 136 × 71 cm, Uffizi, Florence
• Apparition of Christ to the Virgin (c. 1493)—Oil on panel, 156.1 × 146.7 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
• Madonna and Child with Saints (1498)—affresco, 239 × 141 × 71 cm, Museo Civico, Prato
• Adoration of the Magi (1496)—Oil on wood, Uffizi, Florence
• Allegory (c. 1498)—Oil on wood, 29 × 22 cm, Uffizi, Florence
• Allegory of Music (Erato) (c. 1500)—Tempera on panel, 61 × 51 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin
• Crucifixion, c. 1501— tempera on panel, 31.2 × 23.4 cm, Museo Civico, Prato
• Mystic Marriage of St Catherine (c. 1501–1503)—Panel, Basilica di San Domenico, Bologna
• Madonna and Child, St. Stefan and e St. Jhon the Baptist (1502–1503)—tempera on panel, 132 × 118 cm, Museo Civico, Prato
• Deposition (1504, finished by Perugino in 1507)—Oil on panel, 333 × 218 cm, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Florence

School works[link]

Following works are permitted to be cited as Filippino's schoolworks.

• the Madonna, Child and St. John—tondo, Keglevich collection, Budapest,^[1]
• Cenacolo di S. Apollonia—Florence^[2]
• the Virgin giving her girdle to St. Thomas—Florence^[2]
• St. Anthony Abbot—Florence^[2]

See also[link]

• Brancacci Chapel
• Carafa Chapel
• Strozzi Chapel

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Filippino Lippi

• Works of Filippino Lippi at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence
•  Louis Gillet (1913). "Filippino Lippi". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 

References[link]

• The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, Volume 12, page 371 onwards, Raimond van Marle, Hacker Art Books, New York 1970.

Sandro Botticelli
Probable self-portrait of Botticelli, in his Adoration of the Magi (1475).
Birth name	Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi
Born	c. 1445[1] Florence, Republic of Florence, (now Italy)
Died	May 17, 1510 (aged 64–65) Florence, Republic of Florence, (now Italy)
Nationality	Italian
Field	Painting
Training	Filippo Lippi Andrea del Verrocchio
Movement	Italian Renaissance
Works	Primavera The Birth of Venus The Adoration of the Magi Other Works
Influenced by	Fra Filippo Lippi

Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, better known as Sandro Botticelli (Italian pronunciation: [ˈsandro bottiˈtʃɛlli]; c. 1445^[1] – May 17, 1510) was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. He belonged to the Florentine school under the patronage of Lorenzo de' Medici, a movement that Giorgio Vasari would characterize less than a hundred years later as a "golden age", a thought, suitably enough, he expressed at the head of his Vita of Botticelli. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th century; since then his work has been seen to represent the linear grace of Early Renaissance painting. Among his best known works are The Birth of Venus and Primavera.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

There are very few details of Botticelli's life, but it is known that he became an apprentice when he was about fourteen years old, which would indicate that he received a fuller education than other Renaissance artists. He was born in the city of Florence in a house in the Via Nuova, Borg'Ognissanti. Vasari reported that he was initially trained as a goldsmith by his brother Antonio.^[2] Probably by 1462 he was apprenticed to Fra Filippo Lippi;^[3] many of his early works have been attributed to the elder master, and attributions continue to be uncertain. Influenced also by the monumentality of Masaccio's painting, it was from Lippi that Botticelli learned a more intimate and detailed manner. As recently discovered, during this time, Botticelli could have traveled to Hungary, participating in the creation of a fresco in Esztergom, ordered in the workshop of Filippo Lippi by János Vitéz, then archbishop of Hungary.^{[citation needed]}

By 1470, Botticelli had his own workshop. Even at this early date his work was characterized by a conception of the figure as if seen in low relief, drawn with clear contours, and minimizing strong contrasts of light and shadow which would indicate fully modeled forms.

Maturity[link]

The Adoration of the Magi for Santa Maria Novella (c. 1475-1476, now at the Uffizi) contains the portraits of Cosimo de Medici, his sons Piero and Giovanni, and his grandsons Lorenzo and Giuliano. The quality of the scene was hailed by Vasari as one of Botticelli's pinnacles.

Primavera (c. 1482): icon of the springtime renewal of the Florentine Renaissance, also at the summer palazzo of Pierfrancesco de' Medici, as a companion piece to the Birth of Venus and Pallas and the Centaur. Left to right: Mercury, the Three Graces, Venus, Flora, Chloris, Zephyrus.

The Birth of Venus, 1486. Uffizi, Florence

Venus and Mars, 1483

"Like much of Florence, Botticelli had come under the sway of Savonarola and his art had transformed from the decorative to the deeply devout - The Mystical Nativity (c. 1500-1501) [for example] bears all the signs of this change"^[4]

In 1481, Pope Sixtus IV summoned Botticelli and other prominent Florentine and Umbrian artists to fresco the walls of the Sistine Chapel. The iconological program was the supremacy of the Papacy. Sandro's contribution included the Temptations of Christ, the Punishment of the Rebels and Trial of Moses. He returned to Florence, and "being of a sophistical turn of mind, he there wrote a commentary on a portion of Dante and illustrated the Inferno which he printed, spending much time over it, and this abstention from work led to serious disorders in his living." Thus Vasari characterized the first printed Dante (1481) with Botticelli's decorations; he could not imagine that the new art of printing might occupy an artist.

The masterpieces Primavera (c. 1482) and The Birth of Venus (c. 1485) were both seen by Vasari at the villa of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici at Castello in the mid-16th century, and until recently, it was assumed that both works were painted specifically for the villa. Recent scholarship suggests otherwise: the Primavera was painted for Lorenzo's townhouse in Florence, and The Birth of Venus was commissioned by someone else for a different site. By 1499, both had been installed at Castello.^[5]

In these works, the influence of Gothic realism is tempered by Botticelli's study of the antique. But if the painterly means may be understood, the subjects themselves remain fascinating for their ambiguity. The complex meanings of these paintings continue to receive widespread scholarly attention, mainly focusing on the poetry and philosophy of humanists who were the artist's contemporaries. The works do not illustrate particular texts; rather, each relies upon several texts for its significance. Of their beauty, characterized by Vasari as exemplifying "grace" and by John Ruskin as possessing linear rhythm, there can be no doubt.

In the mid-1480s Botticelli worked on a major fresco cycle with Perugino, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Filippino Lippi, for Lorenzo the Magnificent's villa near Volterra; in addition he painted many frescoes in Florentine churches. In 1491 he served on a committee to decide upon a façade for the Cathedral of Florence.

Savonarola monument, Ferrara. Botticelli may have seen his own paintings fed to the flames - but in these strange times the artist might not have objected

Influence of Savonarola[link]

In later life, Botticelli was one of the followers of the deeply moralistic friar Savonarola who preached in Florence from 1490 until his execution in 1498, though the full extent of Savonarola's influence remains uncertain.^[6]

"The story that he burnt his own paintings on pagan themes in the notorious "Bonfire of the Vanities" is not told by Vasari, who nevertheless asserts that of the sect of Savonarola "he was so ardent a partisan that he was thereby induced to desert his painting, and, having no income to live on, fell into very great distress. For this reason, persisting in his attachment to that party, and becoming a Piagnone^[7] he abandoned his work." Botticelli biographer Ernst Steinmann searched for the artist's psychological development through his Madonnas. In the "deepening of insight and expression in the rendering of Mary's physiognomy", Steinmann discerned proof of Savonarola's influence over Botticelli. (In Steinmann's work the dates of a number of Madonnas were placed at a later point in the artist's life). Steinmann disagreed with Vasari's assertion that Botticelli produced nothing after coming under the influence of Savonarola, believing rather that the spiritual and emotional Virgins painted by Sandro followed directly from the teachings of the Dominican monk.

Death and posthumous eclipse[link]

Botticelli was already little employed in 1502. In 1504 he was a member of the committee appointed to decide where Michelangelo's David would be placed. His later work, especially as seen in a series on the life of St. Zenobius, witnessed a diminution of scale, expressively distorted figures, and a non-naturalistic use of colour reminiscent of the work of Fra Angelico nearly a century earlier. After his death his reputation was eclipsed longer and more thoroughly than that of any other major European artist. His paintings remained in the churches and villas^[8] for which they had been created, his frescoes in the Sistine Chapel upstaged by Michelangelo's. British collector William Young Ottley, had however brought Botticelli's The Mystical Nativity to London with him in 1799 after buying it in Italy. After Ottley's death its next purchaser, William Fuller-Maitland of Stansted, allowed it to be exhibited in a major art exhibition held in Manchester in 1857, The Art Treasures Exhibition,^[9] where amongst many other art works it was viewed by more than a million people. The first nineteenth century art historian to have looked with satisfaction at Botticelli's Sistine frescoes was Alexis-François Rio, Anna Brownell Jameson and Charles Eastlake were alerted to Botticelli, works by his hand began to appear in German collections, and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood incorporated elements of his work into their own.^[10] Walter Pater created a literary picture of Botticelli, who was then taken up by the Aesthetic movement. The first monograph on the artist was published in 1893; then, between 1900 and 1920 more books were written on Botticelli than any other painter.^[11]

Private life[link]

Botticelli never wed, and expressed a strong aversion to the idea of marriage, a prospect he claimed gave him nightmares.^[12]

The popular view is that he suffered from an unrequited love for Simonetta Vespucci, a married noblewoman. According to popular belief, she had served as the model for The Birth of Venus and recurs throughout his paintings, despite the fact that she had died years earlier, in 1476. Botticelli asked that when he died, he be buried at her feet in the Church of Ognissanti in Florence. His wish was carried out when he died some 34 years later, in 1510.

Some modern historians have also examined other aspects of his sexuality. In 1938, Jacques Mesnil discovered a summary of a charge in the Florentine Archives for November 16, 1502 which read simply "Botticelli keeps a boy", under an accusation of sodomy. The painter would then have been fifty-eight; the charges were eventually dropped. Mesnil dismissed it as a customary slander by which partisans and adversaries of Savonarola abused each other. Opinion remains divided on whether this is evidence of homosexuality.^[13] Many have firmly backed Mesnil,^[14] but others have cautioned against hasty dismissal of the charge.^[15] Yet while speculating on the subject of his paintings, Mesnil nevertheless concluded "woman was not the only object of his love".^[16]

Works[link]

See also[link]

• History of painting
• Italian Renaissance
• List of famous Italians
• List of Italian painters
• List of painters
• Renaissance painting
• Western painting
• Botticelli (game)

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Knackfuss H., Monographs On Artists, VI. Botticelli by Ernst Steinman, Translated by Campbell Dodgson, New York, Lemcke & Huachner, 1901, Pg. 112.
• New York Times, Life of Botticelli, November 19, 1904, Page BR783.
• Da Vinci Declassified, 2006 TLC documentary
• Ullman, H., Sandro Botticelli, 1893
• Yashiro, Y., Sandro Botticelli and the Florentine Renaissance, 1929
• Lightbown, R., Sandro Botticelli: Life and Work, 1989
• The New Encyclopædia Britannica, Macropaedia, Volume 2, 1991, Page 413-14.

Further reading[link]

In his book Sandro Botticelli: Life and Work, Ronald Lightbown claims "There are only two books to attempt a catalogue raisonné of the works of Botticelli and his school" (source: page 328 of the 1989 edition). These are the two books:

• Salvini R., Tutti la pittura del Botticelli, Milan, Rizzoli Editore, 1958 (in Italian)
• Mandel G., Botticelli, 1969 (in English; earlier Italian [1967] and French [1968] versions exist)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sandro Botticelli

• Sandro Botticelli Biography, Style and Technique
• Sandro Botticelli in "A World History of Art"
• Botticelli at Panopticon Virtual Art Gallery
• World of Dante Botticelli's Dante illustrations and interactive version in the Chart of Hell
• sandrobotticelli.net, 200 works by Sandro Botticelli
• Web Gallery of Art Biography of Sandro Botticelli
•  Sidney Colvin (1911). "Botticelli, Sandro". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 
•  "Botticelli, Sandro". The American Cyclopædia. 1879. 

v t e Botticelli Works Madonna and Child with an Angel · Madonna and Child with an Angel · Madonna della Loggia · The Virgin and Child with Two Angels and the Young St. John the Baptist · The Annunciation · The Virgin and Child, St. John and an Angel · Madonna and Child · Adoration of the Magi · Portrait of a Young Man · Madonna in Glory with Seraphim · Madonna of the Sea · Madonna of the Rosegarden (Madonna del Roseto) · Madonna and Child and Two Angels · Portrait of Esmeralda Brandini · Fortitude · Madonna and Child with Six Saints (Sant'Ambrogio Altarpiece) · Madonna and Child with an Angel · The Return of Judith to Bethulia · The Discovery of the Murder of Holofernes · Adoration of the Magi · Portrait of a Young Woman · Adoration of the Magi · St. Sebastian · Portrait of a Man with a Medal of Cosimo the Elder · Portrait of Giuliano de' Medici · Madonna and Child · Catherine of Alexandria · Nativity · Portrait of Giuliano de' Medici · The Birth of Christ · Portrait of Giuliano de' Medici · Madonna and Child with Eight Angels · St. Augustine · Madonna of the Magnificat (Madonna del Magnificat) · Madonna of the Book (Madonna del Libro) · Portrait of a Young Woman · Portrait of a Young Woman · Annunciation · St. Sixtus II · Adoration of the Magi · Primavera · Pallas and the Centaur · Venus and Mars · Portrait of a Young Man · Portrait of a Young Man · The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti · Venus and the Three Graces Presenting Gifts to a Young Woman · A Young Man Being Introduced to the Seven Liberal Arts · The Virgin and Child Enthroned (Bardi Altarpiece) · The Birth of Venus · Annunciation · Madonna Adoring the Child with Five Angels · Madonna of the Pomegranate (Madonna della Melagrana) · The Virgin and Child with Four Angels and Six Saints (Pala di San Barnaba) · Vision of St. Augustine · Christ in the Sepulcre · Salome with the Head of St. John the Baptist · Extraction of St. Ignatius' Heart · Cestello Annunciation · The Virgin Adoring the Child · Lamentation over the Dead Christ · Portrait of a Man · San Marco Altarpiece · St. Augustine in His Cell · Madonna and Child and the Young St John the Baptist · Portrait of Lorenzo di Ser Piero Lorenzi · Virgin and Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist · Holy Trinity (Pala delle Convertite) · The Virgin and Child with Three Angels (Madonna del Padiglione) · Calumny of Apelles · Lamentation over the Dead Christ with Saints · Last Communion of St. Jerome · Portrait of Dante · The Story of Virginia · The Story of Lucretia · Crucifixion · Christ Crowned with Thorns · Transfiguration, St Jerome, St Augustine · Judith Leaving the Tent of Holofernes · Agony in the Garden · The Mystical Nativity · Baptism of St. Zenobius and His Appointment as Bishop · Three Miracles of St. Zenobius · Three Miracles of St. Zenobius · Last Miracle and the Death of St. Zenobius

For the Robert Browning poem, see Fra Lippo Lippi (poem).

Fra' Filippo Lippi
Selfportrait of Fra' Filippo Lippi
Birth name	Filippo Lippi
Born	c. 1406 Florence, Italy
Died	8 October 1469 (aged 59–60) Spoleto, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Field	Painting, Fresco
Movement	Early Renaissance
Works	Madonna and Child Enthroned, Annunciation

Madonna and Child (1440-1445), tempera on panel. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

Fra' Filippo Lippi (c. 1406 – 8 October 1469), also called Lippo Lippi, was an Italian painter of the Italian Quattrocento (15th century).

Biography and works[link]

Lippi was born in Florence to Tommaso, a butcher. Both his parents died when he was still a child. Mona Lapaccia, his aunt, took charge of the boy. In 1420 he was registered in the community of the Carmelite friars of the Carmine in Florence, where he remained until 1432, taking the Carmelite vows in 1421 when he was sixteen.^[1] In his Lives of the Artists, Vasari says: "Instead of studying, he spent all his time scrawling pictures on his own books and those of others." The prior decided to give him the opportunity to learn painting.

Eventually Fra Filippo quit the monastery, but it appears he was not released from his vows; in a letter dated 1439 he describes himself as the poorest friar of Florence, charged with the maintenance of six marriageable nieces. In 1452 he was appointed chaplain to the convent of S. Giovannino in Florence, and in 1457 rector (Rettore Commendatario) of S. Quirico in Legania, and made occasional, considerable profits; but his poverty seems chronic, his money being spent, according to one account, in frequent amours.

Vasari relates Lippi's visits to Ancona and Naples, his capture by Barbary pirates and enslavement in Barbary, where his skill in portrait-sketching helped to release him.^[2] From 1431 to 1437 his career is not accounted for.

Portrait of a Man and Woman at a Casement (c. 1440). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

In June 1456 Fra Filippo is recorded as living in Prato (near Florence) to paint frescoes in the choir of the cathedral. In 1458, while engaged in this work, he set about painting a picture for the convent chapel of S. Margherita of Prato where he met Lucrezia Buti, the beautiful daughter of a Florentine named Francesco Buti; she was either a novice or a young lady placed under the nuns' guardianship. Lippi asked that she might be permitted to sit for the figure of the Madonna (or perhaps S. Margherita). Under that pretext, Lippi engaged in sexual relations with her, abducted her to his own house, and kept her there despite the nuns' efforts to reclaim her. The result was their son Filippino Lippi, who became a painter no less famous than his father. Such is Vasari's narrative, published less than a century after the alleged events.

Barbadori Altarpiece (1438). Louvre Museum.

Pseudo-Kufic script on the hem of the Virgin's mantle in the Pala Barbadori.

The frescoes in the choir of the cathedral of Prato, which depict the stories of St. John the Baptist and St. Stephen on the two main facing walls, are considered Fra Filippo's most important and monumental works, particularly the figure of Salome dancing, which has clear affinities with later works by Sandro Botticelli, his pupil, and Filippino Lippi, his son, as well as the scene showing the ceremonial mourning over Stephen's corpse. This latter is believed to contain a portrait of the painter, but there are various opinions as to which is the exact figure. On the end wall of the choir are S. Giovanni Gualberto and S. Alberto, while the vault has monumental representations of the four evangelists.

The close of Lippi's life was spent at Spoleto, where he had been commissioned to paint, for the apse of the cathedral, scenes from the life of the Virgin. In the semidome of the apse is the Christ Crowning the Madonna, with angels, sibyls and prophets. This series, which is not wholly equal to the one at Prato, was completed by Fra Diamante after Lippi's death. That Lippi died in Spoleto, on or about the 8th of October 1469, is a fact; the mode of his death is a matter of dispute. It has been said that the pope granted Lippi a dispensation for marrying Lucrezia, but before the permission arrived, Lippi had been poisoned by the indignant relatives of either Lucrezia herself or some lady who had replaced her in the inconstant painter's affections.^{[citation needed]}

The altarpiece Lippi painted in 1441 for the nuns of S. Ambrogio is now a prominent attraction in the Academy of Florence, and was celebrated in Browning's well-known poem. It represents the coronation of the Virgin among angels and saints, including many Bernardine monks. One of these, placed to the right, is a half-length portrait of Lippo, pointed out by the inscription perfecit opus upon an angel's scroll. The price paid for this work in 1447 was 1200 Florentine lire, which seems surprisingly large.

For Germiniano Inghirami of Prato he painted the Death of St. Bernard. His principal altarpiece in this city is a Nativity in the refectory of S. Domenico — the Infant on the ground adored by the Virgin and Joseph, between Saints George and Dominic, in a rocky landscape, with the shepherds playing and six angels in the sky. In the Uffizi is a fine Virgin adoring the infant Christ, who is held by two angels; in the National Gallery, London, a Vision of St Bernard. The picture of the Virgin and Infant with an Angel, in this same gallery, also ascribed to Lippi, is disputable.

Filippo Lippi died in 1469 while working on the frescoes of Scenes of the life of the Virgin Mary, 1467–1469 in the apse of the Spoleto Cathedral. The Frescos show the Annunciation, the Funeral, the Adoration of the Child and the Coronation of the Virgin. A group of bystanders at the Funeral includes a self-portrait of Lippi together with his son Filippino and his helpers Fra Diamante and Pier Matteo d'Amelia. Lippi was buried on the right side of the transept, with a monument commissioned by Lorenzo de' Medici and executed by his son Filippino and others; he had always been zealously patronized by the Medici family, beginning with Cosimo de' Medici. Francesco di Pesello (called Pesellino) and Sandro Botticelli were among his most distinguished pupils.

Selected works[link]

• Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints (c. 1430) - Panel, 43,7 x 34,3 cm, Museo Diocesano, Empoli
• Madonna and Child Enthroned (Madonna of Tarquinia) (1437) -Tempera on panel, 151 x 66 cm, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome
• Madonna and Child with Saints (1438) - Panel, 208 x 244 cm, The Louvre, Paris
• St. Jerome in Penance (c. 1439) - Tempera on panel, 54 x 37 cm, Staatliches Lindenau Museum, Altenburg
• The Annunciation with two Kneeling Donors (c. 1440) - Oil on panel, 155 x 144 cm, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome
• Martelli Annunciation (c. 1440) - Tempera on panel, 175 x 183 cm, San Lorenzo, Florence
• Coronation of the Virgin (1441–1447) - Tempera on panel, 200 x 287 cm, Uffizi, Florence
• Annunciation (c. 1443-1450) - Wood, 203 x 185.3 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
• Marsuppini Coronation (after 1444) - Tempera on panel, 172 x 251 cm, Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome
• Annunciation (1445–50) - Oil on panel, 117 x 173 cm, Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome
• Annunciation (c. 1449–1459) - Tempera on panel, 68 x 151.5 cm, National Gallery, London
• Seven Saints (c. 1449–1459) - Tempera on panel, 68 x 151.5 cm, National Gallery, London
• Madonna and Child (c. 1452) - Panel, diameter 135 cm, Pitti Gallery, Florence
• Funeral of St. Jerome (c. 1452–1460) - Tempera on panel, 268 x 165 cm, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Prato Cathedral
• Feast of Herod (1452–1466) - Fresco, Prato Cathedral
• St. John the Baptist Bids Farewell to His Family (1452–1466) - Fresco, Cathedral of Prato
• Madonna del Ceppo (c. 1452-1453) - Panel, 187 x 120 cm, Civic Museum, Prato
• Madonna and Child (c. 1455) - Panel, Uffizi Gallery, Florence
• Adoration in the Forest (late 1450s) - Panel, 127 x 116 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin
• Madonna of Palazzo Medici-Riccardi (1466–1469) - Tempera on panel, 115 x 71 cm, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence
• Scenes of the Life of Virgin Mary (1467–1469) - Fresco, apse of the Spoleto Cathedral

Notes[link]

References[link]

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

• Canaday (1969). The Lives of the Painters Vol. 1.. New York: Norton and Company. 
• Kleiner, Fred S.; Christian J. Mamiya (2005). Art Through the Ages. Thomson & Wadsworth. 
• Hartt, Frederick (1980). The History of Italian Renaissance Art. London: Thames and Hudson. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fra Filippo Lippi

• www.FraFilippoLippi.org 75 works by Filippo Lippi

Giorgio Napolitano
11th President of Italy
Incumbent
Assumed office 15 May 2006
Prime Minister	Silvio Berlusconi Romano Prodi Mario Monti
Preceded by	Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
Minister of the Interior
In office 17 May 1996 – 21 October 1998
Prime Minister	Romano Prodi
Preceded by	Giovanni Rinaldo Coronas
Succeeded by	Rosa Russo Iervolino
President of the Chamber of Deputies
In office 3 June 1992 – 14 April 1994
Preceded by	Oscar Luigi Scalfaro
Succeeded by	Irene Pivetti
Personal details
Born	(1925-06-29) 29 June 1925 (age 86) Naples, Italy
Political party	Democrats of the Left (1991–2006)
Other political affiliations	Italian Communist Party (1945–1991)
Spouse(s)	Clio Maria Bittoni
Children	Giulio Giovanni
Residence	Quirinal Palace
Alma mater	University of Naples Federico II
Religion	None (Atheist)
Signature

Giorgio Napolitano (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒordʒo napoliˈtaːno]; born 29 June 1925) is an Italian politician who has been the 11th President of Italy since 2006. A long-time member of the Italian Communist Party and later the Democrats of the Left, he served as President of the Chamber of Deputies from 1992 to 1994 and as Minister of the Interior from 1996 to 1998.

Appointed as a Senator for life in 2005, he was subsequently elected as President of Italy on 10 May 2006; his term started with the swearing-in ceremony held on 15 May 2006. He is the first President of Italy to have been a member of the Italian Communist Party.

Early life[link]

Giorgio Napolitano was born in Naples. In 1942 he matriculated at the University of Naples Federico II. He adhered to the local University Fascist Youth ("Gioventù Universitaria Fascista"), where he met his core group of friends, who shared his membership in the Italian fascism^[1][2]. As he would later state, the group "was in fact a true breeding ground of anti-fascist intellectual energies, disguised and to a certain extent tolerated".^[3]

A theatre enthusiast since high school, during his university years he contributed a theatrical review to the IX Maggio weekly magazine, and had small parts in plays organised by the Gioventù Universitaria Fascista itself. He played in a comedy by Salvatore Di Giacomo at Teatro Mercadante in Naples. Napolitano dreamed of being an actor and spent his early years performing in several productions at the Teatro Mercadante.^{[citation needed]} He later measured himself against Joyce and Eliot.^{[citation needed]}

Napolitano has often been cited as the author of a collection of sonnets in Neapolitan language, published under the pseudonym Tommaso Pignatelli, entitled "Pe cupià ’o chiarfo" ("To mimic the downpour"). He denied this in 1997 and, again, on the occasion of his presidential election, when his staff described the attribution of authorship to Napolitano as a "journalistic myth".^[4] However, he published his first book called Movimento operaio e industria di Stato, which can be translated to Workers' Movement and State Industry in 1962.^[5]

World War II[link]

During the existence of the Italian Social Republic, a puppet state of Nazi Germany in the final period of World War II, Napolitano and his circle of friends took part in several actions of the Italian resistance movement against German and Italian fascist forces.^[6] This included occupying the offices of the IX Maggio magazine and using it to publish writings of Karl Marx masked as articles signed by the various components of the group.^{[citation needed]}

From post-war years to the Hungarian revolution[link]

Following the end of the war in 1945, Napolitano joined the Italian Communist Party (PCI). In 1947, he graduated in jurisprudence with a final dissertation on political economy, entitled "Il mancato sviluppo industriale del Mezzogiorno dopo l'unità e la legge speciale per Napoli del 1904". (Italian for "The lack of industrial development in the Mezzogiorno following the unification of Italy and the special law of 1904 for Naples").^[7] He became a member of the Sectariet of the Italian Economic Centre for southern Italy in 1946, which was represented by Senator Paratore, where he remained for two years. Napolitano played a major role in the Movement for the Rebirth of Southern Italy for over ten years.^[5]

He was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1953 for the electoral division of Naples, and was returned at every election until 1996.^[7] He was elected to the National Committee of the party during its eighth national congress in 1956, largely thanks to the support offered by Palmiro Togliatti, who wanted to involve younger politicians in the central direction of the party. He became responsible for the commission for Southern Italy within the National Committee.^[8]

Later on in the same year, the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and its military suppression by the Soviet Union occurred. The leadership of the Italian Communist Party labelled the insurgents as counter-revolutionaries, and the official party newspaper L'Unità referred to them as "thugs" and "despicable agents provocateurs". Napolitano complied with the party-sponsored position on this matter, a choice he would repeatedly declare to have become uncomfortable with, developing what his autobiography describes as a "grievous self-critical torment". He would reason that his compliance was motivated by concerns about the role of the Italian Communist Party as "inseparable from the fates of the socialist forces guided by the USSR" as opposed to "imperialist" forces.^[3]

The decision to support the USSR against the Hungarian revolutionaries generated a split in the Italian Communist Party, and even the CGIL (Italy's largest trade union, then supportive of the PCI) refused to conform to the party-sponsored position and applauded the revolution, on the basis that the eighth national congress of the Italian Communist Party had indeed stated that the "Italian way to socialism" was to be democratic and specific to the nation. These views were supported in the party by Giorgio Amendola, whom Napolitano would always look up to as a teacher. Frequently seen together, Giorgio Amendola and Giorgio Napolitano would jokingly be referred to by friends as (respectively) Giorgio 'o chiatto and Giorgio 'o sicco ("Giorgio the pudgy" and "Giorgio the slim" in the Neapolitan dialect).^[9]

From the 1960s to the dissolution of the Italian Communist Party[link]

Napolitano then became the party's federal secretary in Naples and Caserta and later, between 1966 and 1969, he was coordinator of the secretary's office and of the political office. During the 1970s and the 1980s he was the officer responsible first for culture and later for the economic policy and the international relations of the party.

Napolitano's political ideas were somewhat moderate in the context of the PCI: in fact he became the leader of the so-called meliorist wing (corrente migliorista) of the party, whose members notably included Gerardo Chiaromonte and Emanuele Macaluso. The term migliorista (from migliore, Italian for "better") was coined with a slightly mocking intent.

In the mid-1970s, Napolitano was invited by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to give a lecture, but the United States ambassador to Italy, John A. Volpe, refused to grant Napolitano a visa on account of his membership of the PCI. Between 1977 and 1981 Napolitano had some secret meetings with the United States ambassador Richard Gardner, at a time when the PCI was seeking contact with the US administration, in the context of its definitive break with its past relationship with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the beginning of eurocommunism, the attempt to develop a theory and practice more adequate to the democratic countries of Western Europe. He was an active member of the party until it ended in 1991.^[10] In 2006, when Napolitano was elected President of the Italian Republic, Gardner stated to AP Television News that he considered Napolitano "a real statesman", "a true believer in democracy" and "a friend of the United States [who] will carry out his office with impartiality and fairness".^[11] Thanks to this role and in part by the good offices of Giulio Andreotti, in the 1980s Napolitano was able to travel to the United States and give lectures at Aspen, Colorado and at Harvard University. He has since visited and lectured in the United States several times.

After the dissolution[link]

Nicolae Ceaușescu with Giorgio Napolitano

After the dissolution of the Italian Communist Party, in 1991, Napolitano joined the Democratic Party of the Left, later Democrats of the Left. Successively, he served as President of the Chamber of Deputies (1992–1994), and between 1996 and 1998 he was the first former Communist to become Minister of the Interior, a role traditionally occupied by Christian Democrats. In this capacity, he took part together with fellow lawmaker and Cabinet Minister Livia Turco in drafting the government-sponsored law on immigration control (Legislative Decree No. 40 of 6 March 1998), better known as the "Turco–Napolitano bill". Napolitano also served a second term as a MEP from 1999 to 2004 as member of the Party of European Socialists.^[12] In October 2005, he was named senator for life, and was therefore one of the last two to be appointed by President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, together with Sergio Pininfarina.

Election as president[link]

In 2006, his name was frequently suggested for the office of President of the Italian Republic. Napolitano was the second person proposed by the centre-left majority coalition The Union, in place of Massimo D'Alema, after the chance of a joint vote on D'Alema had been rejected by leaders of the centre-right coalition the House of Freedoms. Even though Napolitano appeared at first a candidate that the House of Freedoms could converge on, the proposal was rejected much like that of D'Alema.

The centre-left majority coalition, on 7 May 2006, officially endorsed Giorgio Napolitano as its candidate in the presidential election that began on 8 May. The Vatican endorsed him as President through its official newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, just after The Union named him as its candidate, as did Marco Follini, former secretary of the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats, a member party of the House of Freedoms.

Napolitano was elected on 10 May, in the fourth round of voting — the first of those requiring only an absolute majority, unlike the first three which required two-thirds of the votes — with 543 votes (out of a possible 1009). At the age of 80, he became the first former Communist to become President of Italy, as well as the third Neapolitan after Enrico De Nicola and Giovanni Leone. He came out of retirement to accept.^[10] After his election, expressions of esteem toward him personsonally as regarding his authoritative cxhgaracter as future President of the Italian Republic were made by both members of The Union and of the House of Freedoms (which had turned in blank votes), such as Pier Ferdinando Casini.^[13] Nevertheless, some Italian right-wing newspapers, such as il Giornale, expressed concerns about his communist past.^[14] He started his term on 15 May.

Presidency[link]

On 9 July 2006, Napolitano was present at the FIFA World Cup final, in which the Italian team defeated France and won its fourth World Cup, and afterwards he joined the players' celebrations. He is the second President of the Italian Republic to be present at a triumphal World Cup final, after Sandro Pertini The Great.

On 26 September 2006, Napolitano made an official visit to Budapest, Hungary, where he paid tribute to the fallen in the 1956 revolution, which he initially opposed as member of the Italian Communist Party, by laying a wreath at Imre Nagy's grave.^[15]

Napolitano attending to the Army Parade of the Republic Day, 2 June 2006.

Barack Obama and Napolitano at Quirinale Palace in Rome

On 10 February 2007 a diplomatic crisis arose between Italy and Croatia, after President Napolitano took an official speech during celebration of the National Memorial Day of the Exiles and Foibe in which he stated:^[16]

...Already in the unleashing of the first wave of blind and extreme violence in those lands, in the autumn of 1943, summary and tumultuous justicialism, nationalist paroxysm, social retaliation and a plan to eradicate Italian presence intertwined in what was, and ceased to be, the Julian March.

There was therefore a movement of hate and bloodthirsty fury, and a Slavic annexationist design, which prevailed above all in the peace treaty of 1947, and assumed the sinister shape of "ethnic cleansing".

What we can say for sure is that what was consumed – in the most evident way trough the inhuman ferocity of the foibe – was one of the barbarities of the past century.

—Italian president Giorgio Napolitano, Rome, 10 February 2007^[17]

The European Commission did not comment on this event, but did comment on (and partly condemn) the response by Croatian president Stjepan Mesić, who described Napolitano's statement as racist because Napolitano did not refer to either Slovenians or Croatians as a nation when he spoke about a "Slavic annexationist design" for the Julian March^[18] (at the time, Slovenians and Croatians fought together in the Yugoslav Resistance Movement). Another matter of debate in Croatia was that the Italian President made awards to relatives of 25 foibe victims, who included the last fascist Italian prefect in Zadar, Vincenzo Serrentino, who was sentenced to death in 1947 in Šibenik.^[19][20] That was seen by Mesić as "historic revisionism" and open support for revanchism. President Napolitano's remarks on the foibe massacres were praised by both centre-left and centre-right in Italy, and both coalitions condemned Mesić's statements, while the whole of Croatia stood by Mesić, who later acknowledged that Napolitano didn't want to put in discussion the Peace Treaty of 1947.

On 21 February 2007, Prime Minister Romano Prodi submitted his resignation after losing a foreign policy vote in the Parliament;^[21] Napolitano held talks with the political groups in parliament, and on 24 February rejected the resignation, prompting Prodi to ask for a new vote of confidence.^[22] Prodi won the vote in the upper house on 28 February^[23] and in the lower house on 2 March,^[24] allowing his cabinet to remain in office.

2008 political crisis[link]

From left to right: Prime Minister Mario Monti, President of the Senate Renato Schifani, President of Republic Giorgio Napolitano, President of the Chamber of Deputies Gianfranco Fini

On 24 January 2008, Romano Prodi lost a vote of confidence in the Senate by a vote of 161 to 156 votes, after the UDEUR Populars ended its support for the Prodi-led government.^[25] President Napolitano requested the president of the Senate, Franco Marini, to assess the possibility to form a caretaker government. On 4 February 2008, Marini acknowledged the impossibility of forming an interim government because the centre-right parties would not join,^[26] and on 6 February 2008 Napolitano dissolved the Parliament.^[27] Elections were held on 13 April and 14 April 2008,^[28] together with the administrative elections, and won by a coalition of right-wing and center-right parties.

On 7 May 2008, President Napolitano offered Silvio Berlusconi the post of Head of the Italian government, following his victory in the general election. The cabinet was officially inaugurated one day later, with Berlusconi thus becoming the second Prime Minister under President Napolitano.

Eluana Englaro incident[link]

On 6 February 2009, President Napolitano refused to sign an emergency decree made by the Berlusconi government in order to suspend a final court sentence allowing suspension of nutrition to 38-year old coma patient Eluana Englaro; the decree was enacted by Berlusconi himself despite being already notified by Napolitano regarding the unconstitutionality of such a measure. This caused a major political debate within Italy regarding the relationship between the President and the government in office.^[29]

2011 political crisis and new government[link]

In November 2011, after barely surviving a motion of no confidence in December 2010, Berlusconi resigned from his post as head of the government, having lost the trust of the Parliament following increasingly dramatic financial and economical conditions. President Napolitano then decided to appoint former EU commissioner Mario Monti as a senator for life, and then as prime minister designate. Monti was subsequently confirmed by an overwhelming majority of both houses of the Italian Parliament, in what was widely referred to as a "government of the president".^[30]

Napolitano's management of the events caused unprecedented worldwide media exposure regarding his role as President of the Italian Republic (usually referred to as nothing more than a ceremonial one) and also won him the nickname "King George" from The New York Times.^[30]

Honours and awards[link]

• Knight Grand Cross Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
• Knight with Collar Order of Pius IX
• Dan David Prize: To Mr. Giorgio Napolitano, President of the Italian Republic, for his dedication to the cause of Parliamentary democracy, thereby contributing to a strengthening of democratic values and institutions in Italy and Europe; and for his courage and intellectual integrity which have been crucial in healing the wounds of the Cold War in Europe, as well as the scars left in Italy in the wake of fascism.^[31]

Foreign honours[link]

•  Slovakia : Grand Cross (or 1st Class) of the Order of the White Double Cross (2007)^[32]

Notes[link]

External links[link]

	Italy portal
	Biography portal
	Politics portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Giorgio Napolitano

• BBC News (10 May 2006). "Napolitano elected Italy's leader". http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4757895.stm. Retrieved 10 May 2006. 

Giorgio Napolitano v t e Presidents of the Italian Republic De Nicola • Einaudi • Gronchi • Segni • Saragat • Leone • Pertini • Cossiga • Scalfaro • Ciampi • Napolitano v t e Presidents of the Italian Chamber of Deputies Kingdom of Italy Gioberti · Pareto · Pinelli · Rattazzi · Bon Compagni · Cadorna · Bon Compagni · Rattazzi · Lanza · Rattazzi · Tecchio · Cassinis · Mari · Lanza · Mari · Lanza · Brancheri · Crispi · Cairoli · Farini · Coppino · Farini · Coppino · Branchieri · Zanardelli · Branchieri · Villa · Zanardelli · Branchieri · Zanardelli · Chinaglia · Colombo · Gallo · Villa · Branchieri · Marcora · Branchieri · Marcora · Orlando · De Nicola · Rocco · Casertano · Giurati · Ciano · Acerbo · Grandi · Orlando · Sforza (N.C.) Italian Republic Saragat (C.A.) · Terracini (C.A.) · Gronchi · Leone · Bucciarelli-Ducci · Pertini · Ingrao · Iotti · Scalfaro · Napolitano · Pivetti · Violante · Casini · Bertinotti · Fini v t e Great Offices of the Italian Republic President Giorgio Napolitano President of the Senate Renato Schifani President of the Chamber of Deputies Gianfranco Fini Prime Minister Mario Monti v t e Italian Minister of the Interior Kingdom of Italy Minghetti · Ricasoli · Rattazzi · Peruzzi · Lanza · Natoli · Chiaves · Ricasoli · Rattazzi · Gualtiero · Cadorna · Cantelli · Ferraris · Starabba · Lanza · Cantelli · Nicotera · Depretis · Zanardelli · Depretis · Villa · Depretis · Crispi · Nicotera · Giolitti · Crispi · Starabba · Pelloux · Saracco · Giolitti · Zanardelli · Giolitti · Tittoni · Fortis · Sonnino · Giolitti · Sonnino · Luzzatti · Giolitti · Salandra · Orlando · Nitti · Giolitti · Bonomi · Facta · Taddei · Mussolini · Federzoni · Mussolini · Fornaciari · Ricci · Reale · Aldisio · Bonomi · Parri · Romita Italian Republic De Gasperi · Scelba · Spataro · Scelba · Fanfani · Andreotti · Scelba · Tambroni · Segni · Spataro · Scelba · Taviani · Rumor · Taviani · Restivo · Rumor · Taviani · Gui · Moro · Cossiga · Andreotti · Rognoni · Scalfaro · Fanfani · Gava · Scotti · Mancino · Maroni · Brancaccio · Coronas · Napolitano · Jervolino · Bianco · Scajola · Pisanu · Amato · Maroni · Cancellieri v t e Heads of state of the European Union member states Fischer (AT) Albert II (BE) Plevneliev (BG) Christofias (CY) Klaus (CZ) Margrethe II (DK) Ilves (EE) Niinistö (FI) Hollande (FR) Gauck (DE) Papoulias (GR) Áder (HU) Higgins (IE) Napolitano (IT) Bērziņš (LV) Grybauskaitė (LT) Henri (LU) Abela (MT) Beatrix (NL) Komorowski (PL) Cavaco Silva (PT) Băsescu (RO) Gašparovič (SK) Türk (SI) Juan Carlos I (ES) Carl XVI Gustaf (SE) Elizabeth II (UK) v t e Prodi I Cabinet (1996 – 1998) Veltroni | Dini | Napolitano | Ciampi | Visco | Andreatta | Flick | Bersani | Pinto | Berlinguer | Bindi | Treu | Di Pietro | Costa | Burlando | Ronchi | Maccanico | Fantozzi | Bassanini | Turco | Finocchiaro | Bogi