DELLA VALLE, FEDERICO. - Tragic poet, b. at Asti about 1565, d. in 1628 or 1629, brought again to light by Croce, who reprinted his tragedies, accompanying them with a critical essay.
He was a writer and poet admired at the court of the Savoys. In 1627 he delivered at Milan the funeral oration for the death of Filippo III of Spain and published the tragedies Judith and Esther, followed in 1628 by the Reina di Scotia, dedicated to Urbano VIII. In 1629 his nephew Federico Parona oversaw the publication of the tragicomedy Adelonda di Frigia. The first two tragedies are dedicated «to the most exalted Queen of heaven,» of whom their female protagonists are prefigurations. Among the poets of the seventeenth century, D. V. reflection. He «feels the human drama, with anguish, with pity, with gentleness, with admiration for trials of virtue in all its forms» (B. Croce).