Not much is currently known about Monsignor Francesco Giardinieri. He held various church offices in Todi, including that of parish priest of San Fortunato and canon and vicar-general at Todi Cathedral (Manieri Elia 2001: 345; Pensi and Comez 1927: 16, 33). In 1932, Pope Pius XI appointed him member of the Segreteria di Stato as papal chamberlain (Cameriere segreto soprannumerario) (Acta Apostolicae Sedis 24 (1932): 208). Giardinieri taught Latin at the Reale scuola complementare in the same city (Pensi and Comez 1927: 18) and, later in the 1940s, religion at the Liceo-Ginnasio Statale “Jacopone da Todi”. He also directed the library of the municipality of Todi (Cecchini 1957: 114). Like Domenico Tinozzi, he wrote a poem on the death of Benito Mussolini’s son Bruno (1918–1941), who died aged 23 in an airplane accident near Pisa (Giardinieri 1941). Giardinieri was still alive around 1957 (Cecchini 1957: 114; LaBlonde 1963: 1).

Bibliography

Latin texts

Giardinieri, Francesco. 1941. ‘[Elegy on the death of Bruno Mussolini, 1941]’. In Benito Mussolini, Parlo con Bruno, 1st ed., 150. Milan: Il popolo d’Italia, 1941; Parlo con Bruno, 2nd ed., 129. Milan: Ulrico Hoepli, 1942; Opera omnia, edited by Edoardo Susmel and Duilio Susmel, 34:258. Florence: La Fenice, 1961.

Secondary sources

Cecchini, Giovanni. 1957. Le biblioteche pubbliche degli enti locali. Sussidi eruditi 12. Rome: Storia e letteratura.

LaBlonde, Jeanne. 1963. ‘Postponed for Years: Mrs. Marceca Earns College Diploma’. The North Westchester Times. New Castle Tribune, 13 June 1963, 1 and 18.

Manieri Elia, Giulio. 2001. ‘Conservato e perduto nelle chiese minoritiche di fondazione duecentesca. San Fortunato di Todi’. In Il cantiere pittorico della Basilica superiore di San Francesco in Assisi, edited by Giuseppe Basile and Pasquale M. Magro, 336–66. Miracolo di Assisi 13. Assisi: Banca dell’Umbria; Sacro convento di San Francesco; Casa editrice francescana.

Pensi, Giulio, and Odoardo Comez. 1927. Annuario di Todi per l’anno MCMXXVII. Todi: Associazione Interessi Turistici ed Economici di Todi.

Han Lamers