FAZIO DEGLI UBERTI. — Poet, descendant of a noble Ghibelline family of Florence, born in Pisa in the first decade of the fourteenth century, died after 1368.
He was a guest at the court of the Scaligers in Venice and of the Visconti in Milan. He wrote a *Canzoniere*, some lyrics of which are of gentle and amorous inspiration, marked by sincere and delicate feeling, while others are of a political nature directed toward the emperors of Germany, who neglected their imperial mission in Italy. Noteworthy among the sonnets are those on the seven deadly sins and two lauds dedicated to the Virgin: one in the form of a prayer, the other under the title *Le allegrezze di Maria*. Several poems are of doubtful authenticity. But the work from which Uberti expected great fame is the *Dittamondo* (*Dicta mundi*), an allegorical poem in six books, left unfinished as Uberti began his summary of Holy Scripture. The poet imagines that Solinus, the geographer, whose doctrine he extensively summarizes, serves as his guide on travels through the various countries of Europe and Africa. The *Dittamondo* is a work of geographical and cosmographical character, drawing on ancient sources as well as medieval legends; it also contains polemical elements in keeping with the tradition of the time. Thus, there are passages against the greed of the clergy (I. II, ch. 2), the Avignon captivity (I. IV, ch. 22), and Emperor Charles IV of Bohemia, urging him to liberate the Holy Sepulchre (I. VI, ch. 5).