ADRIANI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA. - Florentine historian (1513–79), son of the humanist Marcello da Virgilio. During the siege of Florence in 1530 he was among the defenders of the city against the imperial-papal army, but later he drew close to the Medici, who esteemed and protected him.
In 1549 he obtained the chair of eloquence at the Studio Fiorentino, and, after Varchi’s death, at the behest of Cosimo I, he wrote the Istoria de' suoi tempi, which appeared posthumously, edited by his son Marcello (Florence, Giunti, 1583, and then Venice, Giunti, 1587). Divided into 22 books, it recounts the most noteworthy events from 1536 to 1574, continuing Guicciardini’s work. In it A. reveals himself to be a historian of sound judgment and of a certain insight into the age in which he lived. Some Latin orations by him also survive.