Editing Aldus Manutius (section)

== Early life ==
[[image:Bust of Aldo Manuzio. Panteon Veneto; Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti.jpg|thumb|left|Bust of Aldo Manuzio. Panteon Veneto; Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti]]

Aldus Manutius was born close to Rome in [[Bassiano]] between 1449 and 1452. He grew up in a wealthy family during the [[Italian Renaissance]] and in his youth was sent to Rome to become a [[Italian humanism|humanist scholar]]. In [[Rome]], he studied [[Latin]] under [[Gaspare da Verona]] and attended lectures by [[Domizio Calderini]] in the early 1470s. From 1475 to 1478, Manutius studied [[Greek language|Greek]] in [[Ferrara]] with [[Guarino da Verona]] as his teacher.

Most of Manutius's early life is rather unknown. According to the ''1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 17'', Manutius was granted citizenship of the town of Carpi on 8 March 1480 where he owned local property, and in 1482 he traveled to [[Mirandola]] for a time with his longtime friend and fellow student, [[Giovanni Pico della Mirandola]], where he stayed two years to study [[Greek literature]]. Pico recommended Manutius to become the tutor of his nephews, [[Alberto III Pio, Prince of Carpi|Alberto]] and Leonello Pio, princes of the town of [[Carpi, Emilia-Romagna|Carpi]]. In Carpi, Manutius shared a close bond with his student, Alberto Pio. At the end of the 1480s, Manutius published two works addressed to his two pupils and their mother, [[Caterina Pico]] — both works were published in Venice by Baptista de Tortis: ''Musarum Panagyris'' with its ''Epistola Catherinae Piae'' (March/May 1487 to March 1491) and the ''Paraenesis'' (1490).

Giovanni Pico and Alberto Pio's families funded the starting costs of Manutius's [[printing press]] and gave him lands in Carpi. Manutius determined that Venice was the best location for his work, settling there in 1490. In Venice, Manutius began gathering publishing contracts, at which point he met [[Andrea Torresani]], who was also engaged in print publishing. Torresani and Manutius became lifelong business partners, and for their first contract together Manutius hired Torresani to print the first edition of his Latin grammar book the ''Institutiones grammaticae'', published on 9 March 1493.{{sfn|Fletcher III|1988|p=3}}