What is Pietro Metastasio?
{{Infobox person | name = Pietro Metastasio | image = Metastasio by Batoni.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi | birth_date = {{Birth date|1698|01|03}} | birth_place = [[Rome]], [[Papal States]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1782|04|12|1698|01|03}} | death_place = [[Vienna]], [[Holy Roman Empire]] | nationality = [[Italy|Italian]] | occupation = [[Poet]] and [[libretto|librettist]] }} '''Pietro Metastasio''' (3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782) was a [[poet]] from [[Italy]]. His real name was '''Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi'''. He was born in [[Rome]] and died in [[Vienna]]. For many years he was the [[poet laureate]] for the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] in Vienna. He is most famous for his [[libretto]]s (the story and words) for [[opera]]s. Many [[composer]]s used them for their operas. More than 800 operas have a libretto by Metastasio.<ref>''Encyclopedia Britannica''</ref> ==Life== [[File:Gian Vincenzo Gravina.JPG|thumb|upright=0.6|left|Metastasio's [[adoption|adopted]] father, Giovanni Gravina]] Metastasio was born in [[Rome]] in 1698. His real name was Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi. His father came from [[Assisi]], a city in the [[Umbria]] region of Italy. His mother came from [[Bologna]]. Metastasio's father, Felice Trapasso, was a [[soldier]] in the [[Pope]]'s [[army]]. Later he had a small shop in Rome. When he was a small boy, Metastasio liked to make up poems and say them in the streets near his house. His parents were poor and could not send him to school. When he was 10 years old, they sent him to work for a goldsmith (a person who makes things out of [[gold]]).<ref>''Enciclopedia Italiana''</ref> One day a rich [[lawyer]] named Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina heard Metastasio saying his poems. He [[adoption|adopted]] Metastasio and paid for him to go to school. He also changed the boy's name to Pietro Metastasio. Gravina died when Metastasio was 20 years old and left all his money to him. Metastasio w