BECCADELLI, Antonio, known as IL PANORMITA. – Humanist, born in 1394 in Palermo (from which his nickname derives), from a Bolognese family, died in 1471. He soon left his native city to pursue legal studies in Siena (1420), Pistoia, and Florence. He then wandered between studies and pleasures in Bologna and Pavia.
It was during this period that he produced his most famous work: the *Hermaphroditus*, two books of Latin epigrams in a fairly fluent Latin (Martial, Catullus, Propertius, and Ovid were his principal models), with a predominantly licentious tone. The work was a great success: Guarino himself wrote a eulogy, which was prefixed to the little book; yet there were also numerous reproaches and invectives.
At Pavia, Beccadelli befriended various humanists, such as Maffeo Vegio and Lorenzo Valla; he then wrote the four books of the *Epistolae gallicae*, in which he appears as a brilliant and carefree writer. It was this image of him that inspired Valla when he cast him, in the role of defender of Epicureanism, among the interlocutors of his *De voluptate*.
In 1434 Alfonso of Aragon, “great light of letters,” as Vespasiano da Bisticci calls him, invited him to the court of Naples and thereafter continually showed him his generosity, showering him with gifts and appointing him first his counsellor, then ambassador and secretary; this office was confirmed even by King Ferdinand, Alfonso’s successor. In Naples, besides the *Epistolae campanae*, Beccadelli composed the four books *De dictis et factis Alphonsi regis Aragonum*, an abundant collection of anecdotes in praise of the king.
But Beccadelli’s finest initiative was the founding of an academy, which grew out of the frequent gatherings of learned friends and young scholars at his house in Naples and at his villa in Resina. This academy, later called the Pontanian from its most famous pupil, Giovanni Pontano, was an active and flourishing centre of humanist studies for the rest of the fifteenth century.
Beccadelli took an active part in the life of the humanists; he contributed in his own way to the resolution of problems concerning the texts of Plautus. He had no profound gifts even in the field of history, confining himself to anecdotes and vignettes. He deserves credit, however, for having promoted and developed humanist studies in southern Italy.
For Beccadelli’s works: A. B., *Epistularum gallicarum libri quatuor*; *Epistularum Campanarum Liber*, Naples 1746; A. Panormita, *Hermaphroditus*, Coburg 1824 and Leipzig 1908. V. also: A. Cinquini and R. Valentini, *Poesie latine inedite di A. B. detto il P.*, Aosta 1907, and R. Sabbadini, *Ottanta lettere inedite del P.*, Catania 1910, pp. 3-167; and ibid.: M. Catalano, *Nuovi documenti sul P.*, pp. 169-209.