The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Fanfani, Pietro

FANFANI, Pietro, , Italian philologist, humorist and novelist: b. Pistoia, Italy, 21 April 1815; d. Florence, 4 March 1879. He founded in 1847 the Philological Record, and afterward edited several other periodicals of a like character. His &lsquo;Vocabulary of Tuscan Usage&rsquo; and other &ldquo;vocabularies&rdquo; are works of high authority. The &lsquo;Writ at Random,&rsquo; and the whimsical satire, &lsquo;The Laughing Democritus: Literary Recreations,&rsquo; furnish examples of his brimming humor. His novels are &lsquo;Cecco of Ascoli&rsquo;; &lsquo;Paulina&rsquo;; &lsquo;The Coachman and his Family,&rsquo; etc.