Girolamo Savonarola
Villari was born in Naples and took part in the risings of 1848 there against the Bourbons and subsequently fled to Florence. There he devoted himself to teaching and historical research in the public libraries with the object of collecting new materials on Girolamo Savonarola. He published the fruits of his researches in the "Archivio Storico Italiano" in 1856, and in 1859 he published the first volume of his "Storia di Girolamo Savonarola e de' suoi tempi", in consequence of which he was appointed professor of history at Pisa. A second volume appeared in 1861, and the work, which soon came to be recognized as an Italian classic, was translated into various foreign languages.