Gasparo Gozzi

Born Dec. 4, 1713. in Venice; died Dec. 26, 1786, in Padua. Italian poet, critic, and journalist.

Gozzi defended the theatrical reform of C. Goldoni and argued against his own brother, the playwright C. Gozzi. One of the pioneers in Italian journalism. Gozzi published the Gazetta Veneta (1760–62; reprinted in Florence in 1915), where he wrote the entire satirical chronicle himself, and also the Osservatore (1761; reprinted in 1897 in Florence). Goz-zi’s letters eloquently represent the Venetian mores of his time (Family Letters, 1755; new edition, 1808). He is the author of satires in verse (Sermons), parodies (the collection Pleasant Poems by a Contemporary Author, 1751), and a polemical essay in defense of Dante (The Judgment of Ancient Poets on the Present-day Criticism of Dante, 1758). Gozzi’s short stories influenced romantic German prose.