Giacomo Leopardi (Recanati June 29 1798 - Naples June 14 1837) was an Italian poet essayist philosopher and philologist. He is considered one of the greatest poets of the 19th century. Even if he lived in a secluded town in the ultra-conservative Papal States he came in touch with the main thoughts of the Enlightenment and by his own literary evolution created a remarkable renowned and pessimist poetic work related to the Romantic era.