CAPORALI, CESARE. - Poet, of an ancient Vicentine family, b. at Perugia in 1531 and d. at Castiglione in 1601. Because of a sudden illness he interrupted his legal studies, and in Rome he served Cardinal Filippo della Corgna, nephew of Giulio III. He then entered the court of Cardinal Ferdinando dei Medici and subsequently that of Cardinal Ottavio Acquaviva, from whom he received the governorship of Atri and Giulianova. Sadoleto, Caro, Rucellai, Della Casa, and other illustrious men were his friends and admirers. At Siena he was a member of the Filomati, and at Perugia, where he was called «Stemperato», of the Insensati.
He wrote sonnets and short poems in terza rima, such as La corte e Il viaggio di Parnaso, in which he ridicules Bemboism in art. Heroicomic in character is the ten-canto poem La vita di Mecenate, imitating Berni. The critical edition of his Rime was prepared by G. Monti (2 vols., Lanciano 1915-1916).