<P> Word of the Protestant reformers reached Italy in the 1520s but never caught on . Its development was stopped by the Counter-Reformation, the Inquisition and also popular disinterest . Not only was the Church highly aggressive in seeking out and suppressing heresy, but there was a shortage of Protestant leadership . No one translated the Bible into Italian; few tracts were written . No core of Protestantism emerged . The few preachers who did take an interest in "Lutheranism," as it was called in Italy, were suppressed or went into exile to northern countries where their message was well received . As a result, the Reformation exerted almost no lasting influence in Italy, except for strengthening the Catholic Church and motivating the Counter-Reformation . </P> <P> Some Protestants left Italy and became outstanding activists of the European Reformation, mainly in the Polish--Lithuanian Commonwealth (e.g. Giorgio Biandrata, Bernardino Ochino, Giovanni Alciato, Giovanni Battista Cetis, Fausto Sozzini, Francesco Stancaro and Giovanni Valentino Gentile), who propagated Nontrinitarianism there and were chief instigators of the movement of Polish Brethren . Some also fled to England and Switzerland, including Peter Vermigli . </P> <P> In 1532, the Waldensians, who had been already present centuries before the Reformation, aligned themselves and adopted the Calvinist theology . The Waldensian Church survived in the Western Alps through many persecutions and remains a Protestant church in Italy . </P> <P> In the first half of the 16th century, the enormous Polish--Lithuanian Commonwealth was a country of many creeds, but Catholicism remained the dominating religion . Reformation reached Poland in the 1520s and quickly gained popularity among mostly German - speaking inhabitants of such major cities as Danzig (now Gdańsk), Thorn (now Toruń) and Elbing (now Elbląg). In Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), in 1530, a Polish - language edition of Luther's Small Catechism was published . The Duchy of Prussia, which was a Polish fief, emerged as a key center of the movement, with numerous publishing houses issuing not only Bibles, but also catechisms, in German, Polish and Lithuanian . </P>

Who emerged as the german leader of the reform movement in the sixteenth century