ALAMANNI, LUIGI. — Man of letters, born in Florence in 1495, died in Amboise in 1556. He attended the lectures of Francesco Cattani, a disciple of Marsilio Ficino. He took part in the gatherings held at the Accademia degli Orti Oricellari, where he met Machiavelli. In 1522 he participated in the conspiracy against Giulio de’ Medici. He then took refuge in Venice and later in France. In 1527 he returned to Florence; three years later, with the fall of the Republic, he fled to the court of Francis I, who granted him an estate near Aix. He returned to Italy several times on important missions.
Neither the *Eloghe*, nor the *Satire* — directed against the corruption of women and the Roman court — nor the comedy *Flora* display originality or artistic value. Even the two ottava rima poems, *Giorno il Cortese* and *L’Avocahide*, rely on earlier models: the former on the French poem of the same name, the latter on the *Iliad* and on Breton romances. His most famous work is the six-book didactic poem *Della coltivazione*; especially noteworthy are the passages describing the golden age and the tranquility of rural life.