Giuseppe Baretti played a vital role in the revision of ideas about Italy and Italian culture in mid to late eighteenth-century England, while fostering his countrymen’s appreciation for the English language and culture. He was born in Turin, the capital of the kingdom of Piedmont and Sardinia ruled by the Savoy, one of the oldest reigning dynasties in Europe. In 1733, in order to finance his education, Baretti’s father, a military architect at the court’s service, hastened to claim the income of a chaplaincy left vacant by a distant relative. The fourteen-year-old Baretti was made a tonsured cleric and presumably enrolled in the metropolitan seminary. Piedmont was not among the most culturally rich and enlightened regions of Italy, but the city of Turin was nevertheless the…
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Citation: Savoia, Francesca. "Giuseppe Baretti". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 February 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14132, accessed 24 November 2024.]
