ANDREINI, GIOVANBATTISTA. - Actor, poet, and dramatic author, born in Florence in 1578 to the celebrated actor Francesco Andreini (known on the stage as Capitan Spavento) and Isabella, an actress of international renown. At barely sixteen he joined, under the name Lelio, the company of the Gelosi. From 1604, together with his wife Virginia Ramponi, he belonged to the company of the Fedeli, which was in the service of Vincenzo, duke of Mantua. Owing to his profession he travelled through the various cities of Italy, went three times to France and once to Germany. He died at Reggio Emilia in 1654. His comedies are for the most part licentious and obscene.
His fame is associated with the Adamo (Milan 1613), a dramatic work truly remarkable for grandeur of conception, although intermingled with spectacular oddities conforming to the taste of the age. Milton drew from it some felicitous motifs for Paradise Lost. A. was also the author of sacred and secular lyric poetry, among which should be mentioned: the poem in praise of St Charles Borromeo, entitled Divina Vitione, and the sonnets in honour of the saints who had been actors in life, collected under the title Teatro Celeste (Paris 1625).