PIGNOTTI, LORENZO. - Poet and fabulist, b. at Figline on 9 Aug. 1739, d. at Pisa on 5 Aug. 1812. Having completed his studies at the Seminary of Arezzo, he graduated in medicine at Pisa. He was professor of physics, then rector of that University.
He wrote, in facile though somewhat prolix verse, Favole e novelle, not for educational purposes, but to strike at “the vices and frivolities of men in general”; here and there there is no lack of some satirical thrust against the clergy. He also composed short poems and lyrics, imitations of the satires of Juvenal and Horace, and freely translated, in the spirit of Parini, Pope’s Rape of the Lock. In the short poem L'ombra di Pope he indulged the Anglomania of the time. Posthumously appeared a Storia della Toscana sino al principato, followed by several essays, of little value and placed on the Index (decree of 19 Jan. 1824). The work was among those used by Stendhal for his knowledge of Italian life in the Renaissance.