ARRIGO da SETTIMELLO. - Poet of the 12th century. Little is known of his life. He was a cleric and also enjoyed honours and comforts, but later fell into disgrace. To console himself he wrote the famous Elegia de diversitate fortunae et philosophiae consolatione, which is the only work of his that has come down to us (ed. A. Marigo, Padua 1926). It shows the imitation of Boethius and Ovid, but the feeling is often spontaneous, vivid, and immediate. The work consists of 502 elegiac couplets and points to philo-
sophy as a refuge from the evils of life. In several passages the author shows himself to be a believer and a good Christian, but the ideal of life he preaches is the Stoic one. A. is regarded as one of the most remote precursors of the Renaissance.
The elegy was much read and studied in the 13th and 14th centuries and was familiarly called the Arrighetto. Some trace of it also remains in Dante’s Commedia.