FILICAIA, VINCENZO da. - Poet, b. in Firenze on 30 Dec. 1642. Educated by the Jesuits, he pursued studies in law at Pisa, cultivated philosophy and theology, and also devoted himself to music. Financial straits reduced him to living near Figline (Firenze) with his wife Anna Capponi, a poetess, and their sons Braccio and Scipione.
The Christian victory over the Turks in 1683 inspired his six Canzoni in occasione dell'assedio e liberazione di Vienna, which made him famous. Cosimo III appointed him senator, commissioner of Volterra and then of Pisa, and Cristina di Svezia had his sons educated at her own expense. D. in Firenze on 14 Sept. 1707. He is buried in S. Croce. The sincerity of his feelings in his sacred lyrics corresponded to the religious character of his life, especially in the canzoni Alla beatissima Vergine and the sonnets: Faith in God amid misfortunes, On divine Providence, Remembrance of death. De Sanctis and Croce saw in F. a rhetorical versifier; Foscolo, on the other hand, praised his poetry because it proclaimed the noblest and most virile sentiments of the soul; Leopardi, while accusing the canzoni of monotony, observed that F., «always speaking of matters of our religion, has sought to imitate that supreme sublimity of Scripture, and through this supreme sublimity makes himself worthy of being read».