Vittorino da Feltre (1378 - 1446) was an
Italian humanistRenaissance Humanism was a European intellectual movement that was a crucial component of the Renaissance, beginning in Florence in the latter half of the 14th century. The humanist movement developed from the rediscovery by European scholars of Latin literary and Greek literary texts. Initially,...
and teacher, born in
FeltreFeltre is a town and comune of the province of Belluno in Veneto, northern Italy. A hill town in the southern reaches of the province, it is located on the Stizzon River, about 4 km from its junction with the Piave, and 20 km southwest from Belluno...
(
province of BellunoThe Province of Belluno is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Belluno.It has an area of 3,678 km², and a total population of 209,550 .-Geography:...
). His real name was
Vittorino Ramboldini.
He studied at
PaduaThe University of Padua , located in Padua, Italy, was founded in 1222. It is among the earliest of the universities and the second oldest in Italy...
under Gasparino da Barzizza and later taught there, but after a few years he was invited by the marquis of Mantua to educate his children. At
MantuaMantua is a city in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name.Mantua is surrounded on three sides by artificial lakes created during the 12th century. These receive the waters from the Mincio, which descend from Lake Garda...
, Vittorino set up a school at which he taught the marquis's children and the children of other prominent families, together with many poor children, treating them all on an equal footing.
Vittorino da Feltre (1378 - 1446) was an
Italian humanistRenaissance Humanism was a European intellectual movement that was a crucial component of the Renaissance, beginning in Florence in the latter half of the 14th century. The humanist movement developed from the rediscovery by European scholars of Latin literary and Greek literary texts. Initially,...
and teacher, born in
FeltreFeltre is a town and comune of the province of Belluno in Veneto, northern Italy. A hill town in the southern reaches of the province, it is located on the Stizzon River, about 4 km from its junction with the Piave, and 20 km southwest from Belluno...
(
province of BellunoThe Province of Belluno is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Belluno.It has an area of 3,678 km², and a total population of 209,550 .-Geography:...
). His real name was
Vittorino Ramboldini.
He studied at
PaduaThe University of Padua , located in Padua, Italy, was founded in 1222. It is among the earliest of the universities and the second oldest in Italy...
under Gasparino da Barzizza and later taught there, but after a few years he was invited by the marquis of Mantua to educate his children. At
MantuaMantua is a city in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name.Mantua is surrounded on three sides by artificial lakes created during the 12th century. These receive the waters from the Mincio, which descend from Lake Garda...
, Vittorino set up a school at which he taught the marquis's children and the children of other prominent families, together with many poor children, treating them all on an equal footing. He not only taught the humanistic subjects, but placed special emphasis on religious and physical education.
He was one of the first modern educators to develop during the Renaissance. Many of his methods were novel, particularly in the close contacts between teacher and pupil as he had with Gasparino da Barzizza and in the adaptation of the teaching to the ability and needs of the child. He lived with students and befriended them in the first
secularSecularism is the concept that government or other entities should exist separately from religion and/or religious beliefs.In one sense, secularism may assert the right to be free from religious rule and teachings, and freedom from the government imposition of religion upon the people, within a...
boarding schoolA boarding school is a school where some or all pupils not only study, but also live during term time, with their fellow students and possibly teachers. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board", that is, food and lodging...
. Vittorino's school was well lit and built of better construction than other schools of the time. Vittorino also made school work more interesting, adding
field tripsA field trip is a journey by a group of people to a place away from their normal environment.The purpose of the trip is usually observation for education, non-experimental research or to provide students with experiences outside their everyday activities. The aim of this research is to observe the...
to his curricula. He watched the health of his students very carefully, and generally elevated the status of teachers. Schools throughout Europe (especially England) copied Vittorino's model. Many of fifteenth century Italy's greatest scholars, including
Guarino da VeronaGuarino da Verona was an early figure in the Italian Renaissance.He was born in Verona, Italy and later studied Greek at Constantinople, where for five years he was the pupil of Manuel Chrysoloras. When he set out to return home, he had with him two cases of precious Greek manuscripts which he had...
,
Poggio Bracciolini Poggio Bracciolini was one of the most important Italian humanists. He recovered a great number of classical texts, mostly lying forgotten in German and French monastic libraries, and disseminated manuscript copies among the educated world.- Biography :Poggio di Duccio was...
, and
Francesco FilelfoFrancesco Filelfo , was an Italian Renaissance humanist.-Biography:Filelfo was born at Tolentino, in the March of Ancona. He is believed to be a third cousin of Leonardo Da Vinci. At the time of his birth, Petrarch and the students of Florence had already brought the first act in the recovery of...
sent their sons to study under Vittorino da Feltre. Vittorino's other students included Federigo da Montefeltro and
Theodorus GazaTheodorus Gaza or Theodore Gazis was a Greek humanist and translator of Aristotle, one of the Greek scholars who were the leaders of the revival of learning in the 15th century .-Life:...
.