guardi

Guardi is a surname of Italian origin. It is derived from guardia, the Italian word for guard or watch, and is typically classified as an occupational surname given to someone who performed guard duties or worked as a watchman. The name is most closely associated with Italy and appears in Italian diaspora communities abroad.

Notable bearers include Francesco Guardi (1712–1793), a Venetian painter renowned for his vedute, or city views, of Venice and the surrounding areas. Guardi’s work is associated with the late Baroque and Rococo periods, and he is regarded as one of the important Venetian landscape painters of the 18th century. He belonged to a family of artists that helped disseminate Venetian scenery across European collections.

In Italian, guardi is also a verb form. It is the second-person singular present indicative of guardare, meaning “you watch” or “you look.” It appears in everyday sentences such as Tu guardi il film (You watch the film) or in other grammatical contexts within the language.

Because guardi can refer to both a surname and a common verb form, the intended meaning is usually clear from context. The surname and the verb are unrelated in etymology beyond their shared Italian roots.

See also: Guardia, Guardi (disambiguation).