Leopardi was born into a local noble family in Recanati, in the Marche, at the time ruled by the papacy.His father, Count Monaldo Leopardi, who was fond of literature but weak and reactionary, remained bound to antiquated ideas and prejudices.. His mother, Marchioness Adelaide Antici Mattei, was a cold and authoritarian woman, obsessed with rebuilding the family’s financial fortunes, which had …