Domenico Tinozzi (1885–1953) was a politician and medical doctor from Cugnoli (Teramo). After his studies in medicine and surgery at the University of Naples, Tinozzi returned to his native town in the Abruzzi, where he worked as a doctor. Additionally, he held various political positions and acted as president (preside) of the province of Pescara from 1927 to 1934. He was a passionate student of Latin and wrote poems in the language, including a poetical satire, published with an Italian translation by Luigi Illuminati (Tinozzi 1919). During the ventennio fascista, too, he was involved in several Latin projects. In 1924, for example, the mayor of Sulmona, Pilade Perrotti, invited him to compose Latin verses for public recitation on music by the local school pupils at the inauguration of a statue of Ovid, designed by Ettore Ferrari (1845–1929) (see the correspondence in Senigagliesi 2020: 162–164). While he had to decline the invitation due to other commitments, Tinozzi did compose an elegy on the statue, which he dedicated to Perrotti (Tinozzi 1925). He also authored the Latin inscriptions for the Ponte Littorio in Pescara, which were destroyed during World War II (Tinozzi 1935; not yet in FLT but available here). Additionally, he wrote a hymn on the University of Naples (Tinozzi 1924), which was reprinted with a translation of Illuminati (Tinozzi 1927), and he translated Francesco Lo Parco’s hymn to Benito Mussolini into Latin (Lo Parco 1938: 49–58). In 1941, he composed an elegy on the death of Mussolini’s son Bruno (d. 1941), which the leader of Fascism read and appreciated (Tinozzi 1941). In his Parlo con Bruno, Mussolini cited the poem and called Tinozzi “one of the most illustrious living Latinists” (Mussolini 1941: 149). Some additional work in Latin is listed in Sacré (1990: 337–338). Although he was not a classical scholar, Tinozzi wrote an essay on the figure of Vergil and his reception for the Biblioteca dell’Istituto fascista di cultura di Pescara (Tinozzi 1930). In 1935, Tinozzi became a member of the Order of Saint Maurice.

Bibliography

Latin texts

Lo Parco, Francesco. 1938. I canti dell’impero con prefazione e note bilingui e quattro traduzioni metriche latine dell’on. dott. Domenico Tinozzi e del prof. Luigi Illuminati. Milan: La Prora.

Tinozzi, Domenico. 1919. Minois iudicium: poemetto satirico sulla 24. legislatura. Con prefazione di G. Sola, traduzione di L. Illuminati e illustrazioni di S. Spadaro. Rome: Ausonia.

———. 1924. Hymnus in Universitatem Studiorum Neapolitanam ferias saeculares suae institutionis septimum sollemniter celebrantem. Naples: Universitas Studiorum Neapolitana.

———. 1925. Ob monumentum P. Ovidio Nasoni rite Sulmone dicatum. Pyladi Perrotti strenuo ac industri sulmonensis principi civitatis hoc carmen mitttit ex animo Dominicus Tinozzi. Atri: De Arcangelis.

———. 1927. Hymnus in Universitatem Studiorum Neapolitanam ferias saeculares suae institutionis septimum sollemniter celebrantem. Italice vertit Aloisius Illuminati. Adnotavit Guidus Rispoli. Pescara: D. De Archangelis et filii.

———. 1935. [Latin inscriptions for the Ponte Littorio in Pescara, now lost]. Annali dei lavori pubblici 37 (1): 21 (with Italian translation of the author).

———. 1941. ‘[Elegy on the death of Bruno Mussolini, 1941]’. In Benito Mussolini, Parlo con Bruno, 1st ed., 149. Milan: Il popolo d’Italia, 1941; Parlo con Bruno, 2nd ed., 128. Milan: Ulrico Hoepli, 1942; Opera omnia, edited by  Edoardo Susmel and Duilio Susmel, 34:257–58. Florence: La Fenice, 1961.

Other work (selection)

Tinozzi, Domenico. 1930. Virgilio nella storia e nella leggenda. Pescara: L’Adriatico.

Secondary sources (selection)

Mussolini, Benito. 1941. Parlo con Bruno. Milan: Il popolo d’Italia.

Sacré, Dirk. 1990. ‘Conspectus poetarum Latinorum 1900-1960: Supplementum’. Humanistica Lovaniensia 39: 328–39.

Senigagliesi, Federica. 2020. Un ‘sogno secolare’: il monumento a Ovidio di Ettore Ferrari a Sulmona. Immagini nella storia 7. Ancona: Affinità elettive.

Han Lamers