GUIDICCIONI, GIOVANNI. – Diplomat. Born in Lucca on 25 Feb. 1500, died at Macerata on 26 July 1541. Secretary to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, he was governor of Rome when the latter became Pope Paul III, and bishop of Fossombrone. In 1535 he was sent as nuncio to Spain to Charles V, whom he later accompanied to Tunisia and Provence. He was president of Romagna and, during the war against Ascanio Colonna, commissary-general of the papal army.
In the *Lettere di negozi* (in *Opere*, 2 vols., Florence 1867), stylistically comparable to those of Guicciardini, he gives an account of his diplomatic activity. Among his discourses, noteworthy is the *Orazione ai nobili di Lucca* (Rome 1943, edited by C. Dionisotti, q.V. introduction pp. 5-81) in defence of the “straccioni.” He also composed *Rime* (Bari 1914) of Petrarchan tone. The humanistic and Christian wisdom of G. was discussed by A. Caro in the *Lettere familiari* (Florence 1920, pp. 272-80) on the occasion of his death.