FIRENZUOLA, AGNOLO (1493-c. 1545)

This article appears in Volume V10, Page 419 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: FAT-FLA

FIRENZUOLA, AGNOLO (1493-c. 1545) , Italian poet and litterateur, was born at Florence on the 28th of September 1493. The family name was taken from the town of Firenzuola, situated at the foot of the Apennines, its

original

ORIGINAL

home

. The grandfather of Agnolo had obtained the citizenship of Florence and transmitted it to his family. Agnolo was destined for the profession of the law, and pursued his studies first at Siena and afterwards at Perugia. There he became the associate of the notorious Pietro Aretino, whose foul life he was not ashamed to make the model of his own. They met again at Rome, where Firenzuola practised for a time the profession of an advocate, but with little success. It is asserted by all his biographers that while still a

young

man he assumed the monastic dress at

Vallombrosa

VALLOMBROSA

, and that he afterwards held successively two abbacies. Tiraboschi alone ventures to doubt this account, partly on the ground of Firenzuola's licentiousness, and partly on the ground of absence of evidence; but his arguments are not held to be conclusive. Firenzuola left Rome after the death of Pope Clement VII., and after spending some time at Florence, settled at Prato as abbot of San Salvatore. His writings, of which a collected edition was published in 1548, are partly in

prose

PROSE

and partly in verse, and belong to the lighter classes of literature. Among the

prose

PROSE

works areDiscorsi degli animali, imitations of Oriental and Aesopian fables, of which there are two French translations; Dialogo delle bellezze delle donne, also translated into French; Ragionamenti amorosi, a

series

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

of short tales in the manner of Boccaccio, rivalling him in elegance and in licentiousness; Discacciamento delle nuove letlere, a controversial piece against Trissino's proposal to introduce new letters into the Italian alphabet; a free version or adaptation of The Golden Ass of

Apuleius

APULEIUS, LUCIUS

, which became a favourite book and passed through many editions; and two comedies, I Lucidi, an imitation of the Menaechmi of Plautus, and La Trinuzia, which in some points resembles the Calandria of Cardinal Bibbiena. His poems are chiefly satirical and

burlesque

BURLESQUE (Ital. burlesco, from burla, a joke, fun, playful
trick
- TRICK
)

. All his works are esteemed as models of literary excellence, and are cited as authorities in the vocabulary of the Accademia della Crusca. The date of Firenzuola's death is only approximately ascertained. He had been dead several years when the first edition of his writings appeared (1548).
His works have been very frequently republished, separately and in collected editions. A convenient reprint of the whole was issued at Florence in 2 vols. in 1848.

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