Achille Peri Achille Peri Achille Peri (20 December 1812 - 28 March 1880) was an Italian composer and conductor. He is best known for his operas which were strongly influenced by the music of Giuseppe Verdi. Born in Reggio Emilia, Peri began his musical education in his native city before pursuing further studies in Paris with Michele Carafa. He founded a touring opera company in Paris, but returned to Italy after it failed. He began working as a conductor at the Teatro Comunale in Reggio Emilia where his first opera, "Il solitario", premiered on 29 March 1841. His third opera, "Dirce" (1843),
Jacopo da Leona Jacopo da Leona Jacopo da Leona, also spelt Iacopo (died 1277) was a medieval Italian jurist and poet. Beginning his career as a notary, he became a nobleman's secretary and later a judge. Sixty of his sonnets survive. Beginning life as Jacopo del Tancredo in the village of Levane, Arezzo, he took his later surname from the Castle of Leona ("Castello di Leona"), on which his village depended. Here Jacopo began to learn the work of a notary, under the patronage of the family of Ubertini of Arezzo, and one of the Ubertini, Ranieri, employed him as a secretary. Jacopo