Cesare Pascarella (1858-1940) was an Italian painter and poet admired by Benedetto Croce and Giosuè Carducci. Pascarella studied in a seminary and at the Istituto delle Belle arti di Roma. He was very attracted to the artistic scene in Rome and formed relationships with various authors orbiting Roman literary and cultural magazines, which published his early works. Pascarella began as a draftsman but would soon after focus on writing sonnets in the Roman dialect with a direct and simple style, often veiled in irony and characterized by a strong underlying bitterness.
He was a great traveler but always remained strongly attached to Rome, which was the main setting of his most famous works such as "Villa Gloria” of 1886, (celebrated by Carducci) and "The Discovery of America" of 1894. Introverted and prone to solitude, Pascarella began to withdraw from public life in the early 1900s and study English. Pascarella was a guest of Vernon Lee between 1899 and 1900. The two were close friends and loved to take long walks and bicycle rides together.