ANGELI, PIETRO ANGELO DEGLI

ANGELI, PIETRO ANGELO degli. - Man of letters, b. at Barga in 1517, d. at Pisa in 1596. He lived in Bologna, where he was a pupil of Amasco, in Venice and Constantinople, in the service of France, and in Milan, Florence, and Pisa. A humanist of exquisite literary taste, he also cultivated philosophy, teaching Aristotelian philosophy in Rome. Because of his reputation as a critic, Tasso chose him to examine the Gerusalemme Liberata. More than the Cynegeticon and the Virgilian-style eclogues, mention should be made of the Siriade (Syrias), a poem in twelve books on the crusade of Goffredo di Buglione, printed in Florence in 1591. The conjecture that Tasso drew inspiration from this work of the A. for his poem is false; indeed, the contrary is true. Nevertheless, it seems probable that the Siriade was present in several passages to the poet of the Crusades in composing the Gerusalemme Conquistata, owing to a closer adherence to historical reality.