CAMPoli, GIOVANNI. — Man of letters, born in Florence in 1589, died in Jesi on 8 Sept. 1643. He began his studies with the Jesuits and the Dominicans. Under the patronage of G. B. Strozzi he was introduced to the court of Grand Duke Ferdinando and sent to complete his studies in Padua and Pisa, where he earned his doctorate. Coming to Rome and taking ecclesiastical orders, he was warmly received at the papal court.
Appointed secretary of the Briefs by Gregory XV, he was confirmed in this office by the new pope Urban VIII, under whom he also enjoyed a canonry at St Peter’s. Falling into disfavour in 1632, he was banished from Rome and successively sent as governor to Montalto, Norcia, S. Severino, Fabriano and Jesi (cf. his Lettere, [Venice 1661], passim).
He enjoyed wide renown in his own day both for his activity at the papal court and for his literary work.
A friend and supporter of Galileo, he was anti-Aristotelian; he set out his ideas in his Filosofia naturale. As a poet, in his Rime (Rome 1648) he sought to give poetry a moral-religious content in contrast to the productions of his time.