BONFADIO, JACOPO

BONFADIO, JACOPO. — Italian scholar and humanist, born in Salò on Lake Garda around 1500, died in 1550. He is counted among the first followers of the Protestant movement in Italy. He was a friend of Pietro Carnevecchi and in a letter written from Salò recalled with poignant nostalgia the days spent with him in Naples; he was a great admirer of Giovanni Valdés; he wrote analyses of the Genoese republic (*Annalium Genuensium libri quinque*, Pavia 1586) and also *Lettere e poesie volgari* (Genoa 1870). He died by beheading in Genoa, not for heresy, but for very serious charges of immorality. The Roman court wrote to the government of Genoa complaining because «even though (Bonfadio) claimed to be a priest, they had him killed without giving him time to prove it».