PORZIO, CAMILLO. - Historian, b. in Napoli around 1526, d. there in 1580. He wrote La congiura dei baroni del Regno di Napoli contra il re Ferdinando I d'Aragona, prompted to do so by Giovio and persuaded by Card. 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 or penetrate their meaning. As a continuation of Giovio’s work, he also began a Storia d'Italia, which stopped at Book II (up to 1547). Of interest is the account of the unsuccessful attempt by the Spanish viceroy to introduce the Inquisition into Napoli (Book I, chap. 19 ff.). P.’s last work was a brief summary of the most notable matters of the Regno di Napoli.