FLAMINIO, MARCO ANTONIO. - Humanist, b. at Serravalle (now Vittorio Veneto) in 1498, son of the humanist Giannantonio. Dear to Leo X, to Sadoleto, to Sannazzaro, to Castiglione and to the most celebrated men of his time, he passed admired through the courts of Rome, Urbino, Mantua, Naples, Venice, Genoa, Milan. As secretary he served the papal protonotary Stefano Sauli, the datary Matteo Girberti, who gave him a farm on Lake Garda, and Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. For reasons of health in 1538 he went to Naples and, during the two years he remained there, he underwent along with others the influence of Juan Valdés, especially as regards the doctrines on Grace and free will and on the merit of good works.
Having left Naples, he was part of the circle that gathered at Viterbo around Cardinal Pole and had contact with Vittoria Colonna, Alvise Priuli, Cardinals G. Morone, Gaspare Contarini and Girolamo Seripando. He followed Pole to the Council of Trent, but did not wish to assume the office of secretary. He died at Rome, on 18 February 1550, comforted by Cardinal Gian Pietro Carafa, in the bosom of the Church. Admired for his gentleness and Christian piety and for the elegance of his writings, particularly for his Carmina, several times printed in collection with those of the greatest poets of his age. The most readily available editions are those of Bergamo (1752) and Prato (1831). Some of those poems were also translated into Italian by various authors. He wrote furthermore: Paraphrasis in duodecimum librum Aristotelis de prima philosophia (Venice 1536, Paris 1547); In librum Psalmorum brevis explanatio atque paraphrasis poetica (Venice 1546; two years later a prose commentary came out at Bologna); De rebus divinis (Paris 1551); Lettere, edited by V. Dorico (Rome 1554), by D. Aranagi (Venice 1560, and 1576). Works all repeatedly printed.