page_title: Antonio Ranieri
section_title: Friendship with Giacomo Leopardi
hierarchical_section_title: Antonio Ranieri / Biography / Friendship with Giacomo Leopardi
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Uno dei due busti in marmo di Leopardi
context_page_description: Antonio Ranieri was an Italian writer, patriot and politician, better known for his juvenile intimate friendship with Giacomo Leopardi, the most renowned 19th century Italian poet.
context_section_description: In 1830 he traveled throughout Europe, finally returning to Italy to begin a seven-years cohabitation with Leopardi, until the latter's death. This cohabitation, which was also the subject of rumors, was the central moment in Ranieri's life and made him famous as the "guardian" of the last years of the genius of Recanati. Leopardi's deep affection for Ranieri transpires from certain letters he wrote to him during a brief moment of separation (Ranieri being in Naples, Leopardi in Florence), for example:
  My Ranieri. I crave you like the Messiah. You know well I can not abandon you. I send you a thousand kisses.
  — Leopardi, Letter 876 – to Ranieri, 03/02/1833
  My Ranieri. I write you nothing, but always. Without you, I am the most unhappy of the creatures, but  I continue to ask you not to rush. Addio a thousand times.
  — Leopardi, Letter 882 – to Ranieri, 03/19/1833
  After staying in Rome and Florence to follow Ranieri's mistress, actress Maddalena Pelzet, he and Leopardi met the noblewoman Fanny Targioni Tozzetti (1801 – 1889), whom both loved: Ranieri with success, Leopardi not. In 1833, Ranieri moved to Naples with Leopardi. Ranieri did not find a good welcome in his hometown, due to the controversial cohabitation with Leopardi and the unconventionality of the latter's thought. Nevertheless, he dedicated himself to historiography (Storia del Regno di Napoli, 1835) and literature (Ginevra o l’orfana della Nunziata, 1839), being favored by the association with Leopardi and close to his thought. His writings, marked by anti-clericalism, attacks on institutions and Italian patriotism, caused him troubles with censorship.
caption: Marble bust of Leopardi, by Michele Tripisciano (1898).
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