Giuseppe Ripamonti (1573-1643) was a Catholic priest and well known historian from Lombardy in northern Italy. He taught at the Catholic seminary in Milan.
Giuseppe was appointed to be the official chronicler for the city of Milan and royal historiographer by the Spanish governor of that time. With the support of cardinal Federico Borromeo, Giuseppe Ripamonti wrote Historia ecclesiae mediolanensis (1617-25). In those days all important books and documents were written in Latin.
His most significant historical writings are the Historiarum patriae in continuationem Tristani Calchi libri XXIII (1641-43) and De peste Mediolani quae fuit anno 1630 (1640) these served as the source material for Alessandro Manzoni’s quasi historical novel The Betrothed.
The Betrothed is the best known novel written in the Italian language and one of the first books all Italians study when they enter Middle School.