ALAMANNI, or ALEMANNI,

See also:

• LUIGI

LUIGI (1495-1556)  , Italian states-man and poet, was born at Florence . His father was a devoted adherent of the Medici party, but Luigi, smarting under a sup-posed injustice, joined with others in an unsuccessful conspiracy against Giulio de' Medici, afterwards Pope Clement VII . He was obliged in consequence to take refuge in Venice, and, on the accession of Clement, to flee to France . When Florence shook off the papal yoke in 1527, Alamanni returned, and took a prominent part in the management of the affairs of the republic . On the restoration of the Medici in 1530 he had again to take refuge in France, where he composed the greater part of his works . He was a favourite with Francis I., who sent him as ambassador to Charles V. after the peace of Crepy in 1544 . As an instance of his tact in this capacity, it is related that, when Charles interrupted a complimentary address by quoting from a satirical poem of Alamanni's the words " 1' aquila grifagna, Che per piu devorar, duoi rostri porta " (Two crooked bills the ravenous eagle bears, The better to devour), the latter at once replied that he spoke them as a poet, who was permitted to use fictions, but that he spoke now as an ambassador, who was obliged to tell the truth . The ready reply pleased Charles, who added some complimentary words . After the death of Francis, Alamanni enjoyed the confidence of his successor Henry II., and in 1551 was sent by him as his ambassador to Genoa . He died at Amboise on the 18th of April 1556 . He wrote a large number of poems, distinguished by the purity and excellence of their style . The best is a didactic poem, La Coltivazione (Paris, 1546), written in imitation of Virgil's Georgics .

His Opere Toscane (

Lyons, 1532) consists of satirical pieces written in blank verse . An unfinished poem, Avarchide, in imitation of the Iliad, was the work of his old age and has little merit . It has been said by some that Alamanni was the first to use blank verse in Italian poetry, but the distinction belongs rather to his contemporary Giangiorgio Trissino . He also wrote a poetical romance, Girone it Cortese (Paris, 1548); a tragedy, Antigone; a comedy, Flora; and other poems . His works were published, with a biography by P . Raffaelli, as Versi e prose di Luigi Alamanni (Florence, 1859) . See G . Nato, Luigi Alamanni e la coltivazione (Syracuse, 1897), and C . Corso, Un decennio di patriottismo di Luigi Alamanni (Palermo, 1898) .