BRACCIOLINI, FRANCESCO. — Poet, born in Pistoia on 26 Nov. 1566; he studied law at his father’s wish, but soon felt drawn to poetry and gave such proofs of his ability that, barely twenty years old, he was enrolled in the Accademia Fiorentina, revealing himself as a poet of fertile vein and vivid imagination.
Among the poetic works of this period, particular mention should be made of the pastoral fable *L'Amoroso sdegno*, excerpts of which, together with additional verses, were published in Milan in 1597. He remained in Florence for four years and there met Maffeo Barberini, the future Urban VIII. In 1590 he moved to Rome, then to Naples and Genoa, where he became acquainted with Chiabrera and Grillo. From 1595 to 1602 he was in Milan in the service of Cardinal Federico Borromeo; he then returned to Rome and was taken on as secretary by Maffeo Barberini, who brought him with him to France. In Paris he published the first fifteen books of *La Croce riacquistata* (Ruelle ed., 1605), an heroic poem among the most notable of the 17th century, though too similar in structure and development to *Gerusalemme liberata*. After leaving France, he retired to Pistoia and devoted himself to poetry; he completed *La Croce riacquistata* (published in Venice in 1611), wrote numerous verses (notable among them the *Sonetti in vita ed in morte della Lena Fornaria*), four tragedies, and epic poems. But his name is chiefly linked to *Lo Stellone degli dèi* (Florence, 1618), a humorous poem judged by many not inferior to *La Secchia rapita*, which provoked lively controversy among contemporary critics over whether the honor of introducing the “heroicomical poem” into Italian literature should be attributed to B. or to Tassoni; modern scholars have resolved the issue in favor of the latter. In 1622, when Maffeo Barberini ascended the papal throne, B. joined him in Rome. He was received with many honors and lived in comfort, even entering the service of Cardinal Antonio Barberini as secretary; he composed further poems and dramas and published in honor of the Pope *L'Elezione di Urbano Papa VIII*.
After the death of his patron in 1644, he returned to his native Pistoia, where he died on 31 Aug. 1645.