R. Isaac Samuel Reggio (Yasha”R, 1784–1855) was one of the founders of the Collegio Rabbinico Italiano. He was born at Goritz, Illyria, studying Hebrew and rabbinics under his father, R. Abraham Vita, one of the liberal rabbis who supported Hartwig Wessely. He also acquired a knowledge of secular science and languages in the gymnasium. Reggio displayed unusual aptitude in Hebrew, and at the age of fourteen wrote a metrical dirge on the death of R. Moses Hefez, rabbi of Goritz. A prolific writer Reggio’s works include an Italian translation of the Pentateuch, with a Hebrew commentary; Ma’mar Torah min ha-Shamayim, to prove the divine authority of the Pentateuch; a poetic version in Italian of the Book of Isaiah; a Hebrew introduction to the Esther; and Italian translations of the books of Joshua, Ruth, and Lamentations, and of Pirkei Avot. In Ha-Torah ve-ha-Filosfyah (Vienna, 1827), written under the influence of Mendelssohn, Reggio tried to show that reason and philosophy were compatible with the Torah. His Iggerot Yashar (1834–36) contains exegetic, historical, and philosophical notes in the form of letters to friends. He followed the example of Mendelssohn, endeavoring to extend the knowledge of Hebrew among the Jewish masses by translating the Bible into Italian and writing a commentary thereon. Although he believed that in the main the text of the Bible has been well guarded against corruption, he admitted that involuntary scribal errors had slipped in and that it would be no sin to correct them. Consistent with this, Reggio, in Yalkut Yasha”r, defends the opinion which attributes Isaiah xl.-lxvi, to an author who lived after the Captivity.