Italy
Lewis, Monsignor (Dilwyn John) David
Canon Lewis was the priest in charge of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore inRome, one of the most important churches of the Roman Catholic church, and raisedover Ģ4,000,000 for its restor... [more]
Magnani, Anna
Magnani was born in Rome (some sources state Alexandria, Egypt) to an unmarried woman, who gave her to her own mother to raise. She grew up in the slums, and was desperate to escape into fi... [more]
Mantegna, Andrea
Mantegna was adopted as a child about 10 years old by the painter Francesco Squarcione. He was the most famous painter of his day in Padua and was one of the first Italians to use copper... [more]
Melzi, Francesco
Melzi was an Italian aristocrat and was, with Giacomo Caprotti , and possibly also Andrea Boltraffo and Cesare de Sesto, one of Leonardo da Vinci's adopted sons and students. Melzi joined ... [more]
Mortara, Edgardo
Mortara was the son of a Jewish family in Bologna, Italy. When he was five (or a baby, sources differ) he became very ill and his illiterate nurse, a Catholic, baptized him secretly. He rec... [more]
O'Connor, Hugh
O'Connor was born in Rome and adopted by the famous American actor Carroll O'Connor (All in the Family) and his wife while he was in Rome in acting in the 1963 film Cleopatra, with Richard ... [more]
Pāscoli, Giovanni
Pāscoli was born one of four children in San Mauro di Romagna and orphaned as a child. His father was murdered in 1867 and his mother died the next year, and the sadness and unhappiness of ... [more]
Roman Empire
Ancient Roman society institutionalized the adoption of adults. It was relatively common for a wealthy Roman couple to adopt an adult man, even a slave, as heir if they did not have any son... [more]
Romulus and Remus
These were twin sons of Mars and Rhea Silvia. Their grandfather, Numitor, was the king of Alba Longa and was deposed by his younger brother, Amulius, who ordered the twins to be thrown into... [more]
Shoah
The Shoah, also known as the Holocaust , is the name given to the attempt by Nazi Germany to exterminate not only the Jews of Europe, their primary target, but also the mentally and physic... [more]
