MARCO ANTONIO FLAMINIO. — Humanist, born at Serravalle (now Vittorio Veneto) in 1498 to the humanist Giannantonio. Beloved by Leo X, Sadoleto, Sannazaro, Castiglione and the most celebrated men of his time, he moved with admiration through the courts of Rome, Urbino, Mantua, Naples, Venice, Genoa and Milan. He served as secretary to the protonotary apostolic Stefano Sauli, to the datary Matteo Giberti (who gave him an estate on Lake Garda), and to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. For reasons of health in 1538 he went to Naples and, during the two years he spent there, he came under the influence of Juan Valdés, especially regarding doctrines on grace and free will in relation to the merit of good works.
After leaving Naples, he joined the circle that gathered at Viterbo around Cardinal Pole and came into contact with Vittoria Colonna, Alvise Priuli, Cardinals G. Morone, Gaspare Contarini and Girolamo Seripando. He followed Pole to the Council of Trent but refused to take on the office of secretary. He died in Rome on 18 February 1550, reconciled to the Church by Cardinal Gian Pietro Carafa. Admired for his gentleness and Christian piety and for the elegance of his writings, particularly his Carmina, which were printed several times in collections alongside those of the greatest poets of his age. The most accessible editions are those of Bergamo (1752) and Prato (1831). Some of these poems were also translated into Italian by various authors. He wrote
FLAMINIO MARCO ANTONIO — FLAUBERT GUSTAVE
furthermore: Paraphrasis in duodecimam librum Aristotelis de prima philosophia (Venice 1536, Paris 1547); In librium Psalmorum brevis explanatio atque paraphrasis poeticae (Venice 1546; two years later a prose commentary appeared in Bologna); De rebus divinis (Paris 1551); Lettere, edited by V. Dorico (Rome 1554), by D. Atanagi (Venice 1560, c. 1576). All these works were repeatedly printed.