FILLIGAIA, VINCENZO da. — Poet, born in Florence on 30 Dec. 1642. Educated by the Jesuits, he pursued legal studies in Pisa, cultivated philosophy and theology, and also devoted himself to music. Financial hardship forced him to live near Figline (Florence) with his wife Anna Capponi, a poetess, and their sons Braccio and Scipione.
The Christian victory over the Turks in 1683 inspired him to write six Canzoni on the occasion of the siege and liberation of Vienna, which brought him fame. Cosimo III appointed him senator, commissioner of Volterra, and later of Pisa, and, as he knew, had his sons educated in Sweden. He died in Florence on 24 Sept. 1707 and is buried in Santa Croce. His piety was reflected in the sincerity of his sacred lyrics, especially in the canzone Alla bellissima Vergine and in the sonnets: Fede in Dio nelle disgrazie, Sopra la divina Provvidenza, Memoria della morte. De Sanctis and Croce saw in F. a skilled rhetorician; Foscolo praised his poetry for proclaiming the noblest and most manly sentiments of the age; Leopardi, while criticizing the monotony of his canzoni, noted that F., “by always speaking of matters of our religion, has avoided imitating that supreme sublimity of Scripture and for this very sublimity one must pray for him.”