DELLA CASA, GIOVANNI. — Born in Mugello on 28 June 1503, died at Montepulciano on 14 November 1556. He was buried in the church of S. Andrea della Valle. After various travels for purposes of study, he entered ecclesiastical life without any particular vocation, and from 1533, for several years, established his residence in Rome. Here he wrote some « capitoli » in terza rima, not always restrained; in 1544 he was appointed cleric of the Apostolic Camera, and in the same year was then elected archbishop of the diocese of Benevento, which, however, he always administered from afar. Later Paul III sent him to Venice as apostolic nuncio. The Venetian period of D. C.’s life was rich in political and literary activity. Although he did not bring the various assignments entrusted to him by the Pontiff to a successful conclusion, it is nevertheless to him that the introduction into the Venetian State of the tribunals of the Inquisition, established to repress every heretical movement, is owed. In this office D. C. displayed tact and energy. Among other cases, the trial he instituted against Pier Paolo Vergerio, the young bishop of Capodistria, is famous; after being condemned, Vergerio managed to flee, hurling against D. C. a pamphlet full of grave and ferocious accusations.
In his Tractatus de officiis inter potentiores et tenuiores amicos D. C. discusses the relations between superiors and inferiors: the latter must know how to deal with the former, reverence and serve them; to protest and not come to an agreement with superiors is a serious and unbecoming thing, whereas « riverirli e onorarli sarebbe più utile, nonché più onesto », where the meaning of this last adjective is to be understood rather in the sense of appropriateness, propriety, and decorum than of morality. Concerned for the education of his nephews, D. C. did not fail to give them instruction and precepts which, nevertheless, remain wholly external to conscience, aiming more at appearing than at being. The work to which D. C. owes his fame is entitled Galateo. A mirror of a refined and cultured society, entirely devoted to good manners and tact, even if morally skeptical and superficial, the Galateo reflects gracious courtesy and proper conduct, a respectful and elegant way of life. The Galateo was written at the suggestion of Galeazzo (from whom it takes its name) Florimonte, bishop of Sessa, and in it the author wishes to teach his nephew Annibale Rucellai to « essere costumato e piacevole e di belle maniere », so that in social intercourse and relations with the world he may never offend others. « In tutte le azioni dee il ben costumato curare la leggiadria e la convenevolezza »; vices are an unbecoming thing and « perciò da fuggirsi ». It cannot be said that in the Galateo, as a representation of a polished and elegant society, entirely external, as De Sanctis says, every moral vision of life is absent; yet neither can it be said that moral conduct is experienced as a profound demand of conscience. After the death of Paul III (1549), D. C. abandoned public life and withdrew into private life, residing partly in Rome, partly in Venice, and partly in a villa of his own at Nervesa sul Montello. Here he wrote the life of Cardinal Bembo, that of Contarini, the invective against Vergerio, some of his Latin lyrics in praise of the sister of the king of France, one for the death of Orazio Farnese, and the poem Ad Germanos, in which he excuses himself for his transgressions as well as for his youthful « non castissimi » verses. After the very brief pontificate of Marcellus II, when Paul IV was elected pope, D. C. returned to Rome, perhaps also in the hope of finally obtaining the coveted cardinal’s hat; but the appointment never came. Perhaps his youthful « non castissimi » verses prevented it; he was, however, appointed Secretary of State.