FRANCESCO

See also:

• FRANCESCO BRACCIOLINI (1566-1645)

BRACCIOLINI (1566-1645)  , Italian poet, was born at Pistoia, of a noble family, in 1566 . On his removing to Florence he was admitted into the academy there, and devoted himself to literature . At Rome he entered the service of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, with whom he afterwards went to France . After the death of Clement VIII. he returned to his own country; and when his patron Barberini was elected pope, under the name of Urban VIII., Bracciolini repaired to Rome, and was made secretary to the pope's brother, Cardinal Antonio . He had also the honour conferred on him of taking a surname from the arms of the Barberini family, which were bees; whence he was after-wards known by the name of Bracciolini dell' Api . During Urban's pontificate the poet lived at Rome in considerile reputation, though at the same time he was censured for his sordid avarice . On the death of the pontiff he returned to Pistoia, where he died in 1645 . There is scarcely any species of poetry, epic, dramatic, pastoral, lyric or burlesque, which Bracciolini did not attempt; but he is principally noted for his mock-heroic poem Lo Schema degli Dei, published in 1618, similar but confessedly inferior to the contemporary work of Tassoni, Secchia Rapita . Of his serious heroic poems the most celebrated is La Croce Raequistata . For the Italian humanist Poggio Bracciolini see Po0Gmo .