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Giacomo Taldegardo Francesco di Sales Saverio Pietro Leopardi (June 29, 1798 – June 14, 1837) was an Italian poet, essayist, philosopher, and philologist. Giacomo Leopardi was born in Recanati, in the Marche, at the time ruled by the papacy, of a local noble family. His father was the count Monaldo Leopardi and his mother was the marquise Adelaide Antici Mattei. Leopardi's father was a good-hearted man, fond of literature but weak and reactionary, who remained bound to antiquated ideas and prejudices; his mother was a cold and authoritarian woman, obsessed over rebuilding the family's financial fortunes which had been destroyed by Monaldo's gambling addiction. At home, a rigorous discipline of religion and savings reigned supreme. Giacomo's childhood, which he passed with his younger brother Carlo Orazio and sister Paolina, left its mark on the poet, who recorded his experiences in the poem Le Ricordanze.