Ippolito Galante (Hipólito/Hippolytus, 1892–1975) was a philologist, poet, composer, and diplomat, who held a PhD from the University of Rome (1915). During the ventennio fascista, he travelled extensively as a ‘cultural diplomat’ for the Ministry of External Affairs, visiting Chile, Portugal, Sweden, Peru, and Spain. He wrote both poetry and scholarly works in Latin and promoted the language where he travelled. Galante is mainly known today for his pioneering studies on Quechua, all in Latin (Galante 1942; Galante 1943; Galante 1946). In 1938, he founded the Institute of Philology of the Universidad Nacional de San Marcos (Lima, Peru), with a chair for Quechua (Durston 2014). During the ventennio, Galante also published two collections of Latin poems (Galante 1928 and Galante 1937). His poetry covers a range of genres and subjects and includes an ode to Benito Mussolini, published in the Chilean newspaper La Nación (20 September 1928) and, separately, in an edition of only 50 copies (Galante [1928]). Among students of Neo-Latin literature, Galante is mainly known for his Vergilian epic poem about ancient India, entitled Saniucta (Galante 1957; Lictra 1958; Pasqualetti 1959; Verweij 2006). After the fall of Fascism, Galante taught pre-Columbian languages at the University of Rome. He later obfuscated his associations with Mussolini’s regime in his autobiographical poem De vita sua (Galante 1959; IJsewijn 1960; Sacré 2020: 23–24).

Bibliography

Latin texts

Galante, Hipólito. [1928]. Benito Mussolinio, Romanorum Duci s. [Santiago de Chile]: [Typ. La Illustración].

———. 1928. ‘Benito Mussolinio, Romanorum Duci Hyppolitus Galantes sal.’ La Nación, 20 September 1928, sec. Página Italiana, 15.

———. 1928. Andina. Santiago de Chile: [s.n.].

———. 1937. Pacifica. Lima: [s.n.].

———. 1942. De priscorum Huarochiriensium origine et institutis. Sevilla: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.

———, trans. 1943. Bartholomaei Juradi Palomini Catechismus Quichuensis. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.

———. 1946. Poeseos quichuensis scenicae monumenta. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.

———. 1957. Saniucta. Rome: Sodalicium Hieronymianum.

———. 1959. De vita sua. Rome: Sodalicium Hieronymianum.

Secondary sources

Durston, Alan. 2014. ‘Ippolito Galante y la filología quechua en los años 1930 y 1940’. Lexis 38 (2): 307–336.

IJsewijn, Jozef. 1960. ‘Hippolytus Galante. De vita sua, I’. Palaestra Latina 30 (171): 147–148.

Licitra, Vincenzo. 1958. La ‘Saniucta’ di Ippolito Galante. Rome: Casa editrice Gismondi.

Pasqualetti, Olindo. 1959. ‘Sul «Saniucta» di Ippolito Galante’. Aevum 33 (5/6): 546–558.

Sacré, Dirk. 2020. ‘Die neulateinische Literatur in Mussolinis Italien’. In Studies in the Latin Literature and Epigraphy of Italian Fascism, edited by Han Lamers, Bettina Reitz-Joosse, and Valerio Sanzotta, 13–50. Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia 46. Leuven: Leuven University Press.

Verweij, Michiel. 2006. ‘Ippolito Galante and His Saniucta: A Way to Approach the Last Latin Epic”’. In Musae Saeculi XX Latinae. Acta Selecta, edited by Tom Deneire, Dirk Sacré, and Iosephus Tusiani, 335–347. Brussels/Rome: Istituto Storico Belga di Roma.

Han Lamers