PORZIO, CAMILLO

PORZIO, CAMILLO. — Historian, born in Naples ca. 1526, died there in 1580. He wrote *La congiura dei baroni del Regno di Napoli contra il re Ferdinando I d'Aragona*, urged by Giovio and persuaded by Cardinal Seripando to compose it in Italian rather than Latin, so that it might better serve as a document for the subjects of the Kingdom “little obedient to the will of their kings.”

The author is fairly truthful, but he does not investigate the causes of events nor penetrate their meaning. In continuation of Giovio’s work, he also began a *Storia d’Italia*, which breaks off at book 11 (up to 1547). Notable is his account of the failed attempt by the Spanish viceroy to introduce the Inquisition into Naples (I. I, ch. 19 ff.). Porzio’s last work was a brief summary of the most notable events in the Kingdom of Naples.

BIBL.: Works: *La congiura dei baroni* and book I of the *Storia d’Italia* with introduction and historical notes by F. Torraca, Florence 1885. Studies: E. Perito, *La congiura dei baroni e il conte di Policastro*, Bari 1926; E. Fueter, *Storia della storiografia moderna* (Italian trans.), I, Naples 1944, pp. 148–49.