G I O 
he had tlie honour of inlfrufting the celebrated Julius 
Casfar Scaliger. lie was well verfed in fcliolafti^ tlieo- 
lo‘''y and in the niatheinatical fciences ; and was one ot 
thofe who contributed to the revival of claincal learning 
by the colleclion of ancient monuments and manufcripts. 
He prefented to Lorenzo de Medici a collection of an-■ 
cient infcr.iptions which he had made witli great labour, 
and which is fpoken of in the higheft terms by Angelo 
Poliziano. Tliis w'as compiled in Rome belore the year 
1492, iuwhicli Lorenzo died. Giocondo was fome time 
at the Court of tlie emperor Maximilian. He alfo vifited 
France, where he was employed to build two bridges 
over the Seine, called tliofe of Our Lady, and the Little 
Bridge, botli faid to have been of admirable beauty. 
He had the title of arcliiteCt-royal in France, as appears 
from the honourable mention made of him by the learned 
Budseus. His employment as an artift did not prevent 
him from continuing to ferve the caufe of letters. An 
edition of Pliny’s EpilHes, printed in Bologna in 14.98, 
and another by Aldus in 1508, contained his collations 
with an ancient manufeript at Paris. He alfo was one 
of the fil'd who gave a correid edition of Vitruvius, il- 
luftrated with figures, publilhed at Venice in 1511, with 
a dedication to pope Julius 11 . He alfo afiified in editing 
Frontinis de AquaduElis •, Scriptores de Re Rufrica ■, Aurelius 
Viiifor; and Caefar’s Commentaries; and was-the firfi: 
who gave a delign of Caefar’s bridge over the Rhine. 
On his return to Italy, he wrote, in 1506, four diderta- 
tions addrelTed to fthe magiftracy of Venice, concerning 
the waters of that city, whicli are preferved in its 
archives. When the Rialto was burnt, in 1513, he gave 
a delign for rebuilding it more beautiful than before ; 
but it was rejected for a lefs coftly defign of another 
architett. Refentment on this account caufed him to 
quit Venice for Rome, where, on the death of Bramante, 
he was joined w itli Raphael and San Gallo in luperin- 
tending the ereCtion of St. Peter’s. His lad known work 
was the rebuilding of the Itone bridge .of Verona, which 
took place about 1521. He probably did not long fur- 
vive, fince he calls himfelf an old man, in a dedication 
to Juliano de Medici, in 1513. ' 
GiO'GI, a town of Tranlilvania, fituated near the 
Maros : fourteen miles fouth-wed of Millenbach. 
GIO'IA, a town of Italy, in the-kingdom of Naples, 
and province of Bari : fourteen miles fouth-l'outh-w'ed 
of Converlano. 
GIO'IA, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of Naples, 
and province of Abruzzo Ultra: feven miles fouth-ead 
of Celano. 
GIO'JA (Flavio), an ingenious Italian mathemati¬ 
cian, to whom is generally attributed the invention of 
the compafs. He was born at Pafitt^no, near Amalfi, 
in the kingdom of Naples, about the year 1300. He is 
faid to have fird difeovered the directive power of the 
magnet, and to have applied it to the purpofes of na¬ 
vigation under the form of a compafs, though in a rude 
and imperfect date. And to Ihew this indrument to 
have been the invention of a fubjeCt of the king of 
Naples, who at that time was a junior branch of the 
royal family of France, he marked the north point with 
a deur-de-lys, by which all nations dill didinguidi it. 
As a memorial of this difeovery, the territory of Prin- 
cipato, in which Gioja was born, bears a compafs for 
its arms. Some authors, it is true, have claimed this 
invention for the French ; and others for the Englilh. 
Others again maintain, that the Chinefe had difeovered 
this indrument long before their intercourfe with Eu¬ 
ropeans; and that the fecret was brought to Italy by 
Marco Paulo, in 1260 ; but the greater number of com¬ 
petent enquirers have concurred in attributing this in¬ 
valuable difeovery to Gioja. 
GIOI'SA, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of Naples, 
and province of Calabria Ultra: feven miles fouth of 
Nicotera. 
GIOLI'TO DE FERRA'RI, the name of a celebrated, 
GIG 575 
family of I talian printers. The fird of thefe, John, a' 
native of Trino in Montfefrat,.after having for fome time 
excrcifed his art in his own country, removed to Venice, 
about 1530, where he acquired,great reputation in cor.- 
junCIion witli his foil Gabriel. The latter is the mod 
didinguidied of the family: he employed feveral learned 
men in the correCdion of Ids editions, which, however, 
are more valued for the beauty of the type and paper, 
and the excellence of the workmanlhip, than for their 
accuracy. They are dill much fought after by the cu¬ 
rious in typography, and are remarkable proofs of the 
perfection of the art at fo early a period after its, fird 
invention. Gabriel was recognifed as noble (in confe- 
quence of his defeent from the Ferrari of Placenzia) by 
the emperor Charles V. He lived at Venice in great 
edeem, and died in 1581. His two fons, John and Giam- 
paolo, fucceeded him in his ofiice. 
GIORDA'NI (Vital), an I talian mathematician, born 
at Bitonto, in the kingdom of Naples, in 1633. Spend¬ 
ing the early part of his life in a dilfolute manner, he 
committed manllaughter, and, flying from his country,, 
entered as a foldier on-board the galleys which pope In¬ 
nocent X. fent to cruife againd the Turks in the Levant. 
He was prefent in feveral engagements, and by his con- 
duCt recommended himfelf to the notice of the admiral, 
who, perceiving in him abilities, above his condition, 
bedowed on him the office of purfer. After his return 
to Rome, in 1659, he determined to devote himfelf to 
mathematical purfuits ; and having obtained the pod of 
keeper of the cadle of St. Angelo, which afforded him 
leifure for following the bias of his mind, he foon made 
confiderable proficiency, and acquired the character of 
an able geometrician. He now met with fome friendly 
patrons, who encouraged him to quit the military life,, 
and affided him in obtaining the farther knowledge ne- 
ceffary to qualify him for the office of a mathematical 
tutor. In this capacity he became fo didinguidied, 
that Chridina queen of Sweden, during her refidence at. 
Rome, chofe liim for her mathematician ; and Louis 
XIV. appointed him to teach the mathematics in the 
academy of painting and fculpture, which that monarch 
edablidied in that city in i'666. In 1672 pope Clement X. 
made him engineer to the cadle of pt. Angelo ; and in 
1685 he was nominated to the mathematical profelfor- 
diip in the College of Wifdom. In 1691 he was eleCfcd 
a member of the academy of the Arcadians. He died in 
1711, in his feventy-eighth year. His principal works 
are, i. Euclide Rejlitut.o, 1686, folio. 2. De componendis 
Grayiiim Momentis, 1685, folio'. 3. Fundamentum Dodirinx 
Motus Gravium, 1686, of which an enlarged edition after¬ 
wards appeared ; and, 4. Ad Hyacinthum Ciirijlophorwn. 
Epjlola, 1705, folio. 
GIORDA'NO (Luca), an eminent painter, born at 
Naples in 1632. So early as the. age of feven, he pro¬ 
duced fome extraordinary efforts of his own genius; and 
at eight, he painted in frefco two children fora church, 
which his father had undertaken, but found himfelf em- 
barrafi'ed in the execution. It iS faid, that his father, 
who had brought with him a painter to the place, found 
one of thefe children painted; and afking Luca who had 
done it, was fo much furprifed at being told that it vvas 
himfelf, that he would not credit it, till the boy took 
up the brulh and painted the other. The viceroy of 
Naples, 'who was informed of this w onder, placed Luca 
with Ribera as his pupil, and his progrefs was aftonifh- 
ing. After working fome years under this mailer, he 
departed for Rome, in order to improve himfelf from 
the excellent models in that capital. Though he copied 
all the mailers, he was principally taken with Titian and 
Paul Veronefe, the latter of whom he chiefly propofed 
as his model, uniting with his grandeur of Ilyle the har¬ 
monious colouring of Pietro da Cortona. He worked 
with extreme rapidity, and had a wonderful talent of 
imifating from memory the ftyle of other mailers. His 
original works difplay great fertility of imagination, and 
a furprifing 
