Aetnaeus: An epithet attached to several deities or mythical beings associated with Mount Etna (anc. Aetna mons). Among these were Jupiter Aetnaeus, to whom a statue and a festival were dedicated on the slopes of the mountain. The name was also attached to Vulcan and to the Cyclopes.
Afan de Rivera, Achille: (b. 1842, Santa Maria di Capua. d. 1904, Naples). Military leader and politician. He loyally served the Bourbons until the fall of Gaeta to the Sardinians in January 1861. Transferring to the new army of the Kingdom of Italy, distinguishing himself during the war against the Austrians in 1866. By 1896, he had risen to the rank of Lieutenant General. Having also begun a political career, he became a Deputy in 1890, served as Undersecretary of War, and, in 1898, had become Minister of Public Works. In 1898, he was awarded the title of Marchese.
Afan de Rivera, Carlo: (b. 1779, Gaeta. d. 1852, Gaeta). Military engineer and civil official. An expert in road construction and land reclamation, he began his career in the military. In 1824, he became Director-General of bridges and roads for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Utilizing modern techniques he began an effective program of land reclamation in southern Italy. He began some important hydraulic works including the draining and restoration of the outlet for the Lago Fucino (first begun by the Roman Emperor Claudius in the 1st century AD). He also drew up plans for other projects. De Rivera supported the reforestation of lands that had been earlier clear-cut. A new network of roads was drawn-up to link together the various parts of the Kingdom. In his important work Considerazioni (1832-33) he argued that the great social and economic problems of the Kingdom could only be solved by generating enough funding through taxation.
Afan de Rivera, Fernando: (b. 1570 or 1584, Seville, Spain. d. 1638, Villach, Austria. Duke of Alcala; and Spanish diplomat. A great patron of the arts, he built a collection at his palace at Seville, which included both works of art and codices. He served as ambassador to the court of Pope of Urban VIII, later becoming vicar to the Kingdom of Naples (1629-31) and then to Sicily (1632-35). In 1636, he was appointed vicar-general to Italy. He died while serving as plenipotiary at the congress of Colonia for European peace.
Afan de Rivera, Pedro: (b. c1508; d.1571). Duke of Alcala. Spanish politician. He served as Spanish vicar of Naples from 1559 until his death in 1571. During his term in this office he effectively combated Turkish pirates from without and Calabrian bandits (including the famous Marco Berardi, popularly known as “King Marco”) from within the Kingdom of Naples. One of the few Spanish colonial officials to be truly conscious of the needs of the local people, de Rivera attempted to relieve the terrible suffering of the Neapolitan peasants caused by famine, pestilence, and earthquakes. Despite his persecution of the Waldensians in Calabria, he also refused to allow ecclesiastic authority and privilege to take precedence over civil law in Naples.
Afesa, Pietro (also called Della Basilicata): (fl. mid-17th century). Painter. A native of the Basilicata, he created a number of works still extant in several churches and convents in the city of Naples. Among of his finest works in an altar-piece in the chapel of the convent of Marsico Nuovo depicting the “Assumption of the Virgin Mary.” He received high praise in Bernardo di Domenici’s “Lives of Neapolitan Painters and Architects” (1744).
Afflitto, Giovanni Maria: (b. Naples; d.1673). A monk and writer. His best-known work is a “Treatise on Fortifications.”
Afflitto, Eustachio d’ (1): (b. 1742; d. 1785). Nobleman (Duke of Roccagloriosa) and scholar. He was a teacher of ecclesiastical hitory at the University of Naples. He also served as directory of the Royal Library and the Royal Museam of Capodimonte.
Afflitto, Eustachio d’ (2): (d. 1790). Dominican monk and historian. He is principally known for the unfinished 2-volume Memorie degli Scrittori del Regno di Napoli (“Memoirs of the Writers of the Kingdom of Naples”) (posth.1792).