The last poem of Pietro Giannone—finally decrypted. Issue 5 (2nd September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bonavoglia, Paolo; Pellegrino, Consolato
• Is Part Of: Cryptologia. Volume 40:Issue 5(2016)
• Page Start: 411
• Page End: 427
• Publication Date: 2016-09-02
• Subjects: codes -- digraphic and trigraphic substitutions -- G. B. Della Porta -- Lucrezia Borgia -- Luigi Sacco -- monoalphabetic substitution cipher -- Pietro Giannone -- Pius IX -- repertories -- Rodrigo Borgia -- Rome; Cryptography -- Periodicals; 652.8
• DOI: 10.1080/01611194.2015.1087072
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0161-1194

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Pietro Giannone (1791–1872) was an Italian poet and patriot, a friend and associate of Giuseppe Mazzini. In his last years, he wrote a secret poem using unusual symbols. For nearly 150 years, the poem resisted decryption attempts, but the code has recently been broken and recovered: a mix of monoalphabetic, digraphic, trigraphic signs, polyphones, and a little repertory. Some serious (but useful) flaws made decryption possible.