born Feb. 28, 1783, Vasto, Kingdom of Naples
died April 24, 1854, London, Eng.
Italian poet, revolutionary, and scholar.
A librettist and later curator of a museum in Naples, he was condemned for his spirited verse on contemporary politics and for membership in a revolutionary group. In 1824 he fled to England, where in 1831 he published an eccentric interpretation of Dante , claiming a chiefly political and antipapal meaning in the Divine Comedy . The work led to a post as professor of Italian at King's College, London, from 1831 to 1847. He is best known as the father of four talented children, including Christina Rossetti and Dante Gabriel Rossetti .