List of Italians - Writers and Philosophers - The Baroque Period and The Enlightenment

The Baroque Period and The Enlightenment

• Claudio Achillini (1574–1640), poet and jurist; one of the better known Marinisti
• Vittorio Alfieri (1749–1803), tragic poet; from 1775 to 1787, wrote 19 verse tragedies; his best works include Filippo (1775), Oreste (1786) and Mirra (1786)
• Francesco Algarotti (1712–1764), philosopher and art critic; author of a number of stimulating essays on the subjects of architecture (1753), the opera (1755), and painting (1762)
• Cosimo Amidei (1725–1783), philosopher and jurist; his most important works: Discorso filosofico-politico sopra la carcere de debitori (1770) and De' mezzi per diminuire i mendichi (1771)
• Giuseppe Marc'Antonio Baretti (1719–1789), literary critic; author of Italian Library (1757)
• Giambattista Basile (c. 1575–1632), poet. His best work is in Neapolitan dialect: Le muse napolitane and a collection of 50 short stories, Pentamerone, Lo cunto de' li cunti (1634––6)
• Cesare Beccaria (1738–1794), philosopher, criminologist and jurist; his best known work was his treatise Dei delitti e delle pene (1763–4)
• Saverio Bettinelli (1718–1808), writer; author of Lettere dieci di Virgilio agli Arcadi (1758)
• Tommaso Campanella (1568–1639), Dominican philosopher and writer; he is best remembered for his socialistic work The City of the Sun (1602)
• Melchiorre Cesarotti (1730–1808), poet and translator; author of Essay on the Philosophy of Taste (1785) and Essay on the Philosophy of Languages (1785)
• Elena Cornaro Piscopia (1646–1684), philosopher. She was the first female to graduate from a university
• Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749–1838), poet and librettist; his most important librettos were for Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787), and Così fan tutte (1790)
• Carlo Denina (1731–1813), historian; author of Delle rivoluzioni d'Italia (1769–70) and Delle revoluzioni della Germania (1804)
• Gaetano Filangieri (1752–1788), economist and state adviser; he is known for his work, The Science of Legislation (vols. 1–7; 1780–85)
• Ferdinando Galiani (1728–1787), economist; he published two treatises, Della moneta (1750) and Dialogues sur le commerce des blés (1770)
• Antonio Genovesi (1712–1769), writer and political; author of Disciplinarum Metaphysicarum Elementa (1743–52) and Logica (1745)
• Pietro Giannone (1676–1748), historian and jurist; his most important work was his Il Triregno, ossia del regno del cielo, della terra, e del papa ; published only in 1895
• Carlo Goldoni (1707–1793), playwright; wrote more than 260 dramatic works of all sorts, including opera
• Gasparo Gozzi (1713–1786), poet, critic and journalist. His principal writings are: Lettere famigliari (1755), Il Mondo morale (1760) and Osservatore Veneto periodico (1761)
• Giovanni Battista Guarini (1538–1612), poet and theoretician of literature; his most well-known work is Il pastor fido (1590), a pastoral tragicomedy
• Scipione Maffei (1675–1755), writer and art critic; his most important works: Conclusioni di amore (1702), La scienza cavalleresca (1710) and De fabula equestris ordinis Constantiniani (1712)
• Giambattista Marino (1569–1625), poet. Founder of the school of Marinism (later Secentismo); among his principal works is L'Adone (1623), a long narrative poem
• Metastasio (1698–1782), poet and librettist; considered the most important writer of opera seria libretti. His melodrama Attilio Regolo (1750) is generally considered his masterpiece
• Ludovico Antonio Muratori (1672–1750), historian; author of Antiquitates Italicae Medii Aevi (6 vols; 1738–42) and Annali d'Italia (12 vols; 1744–49)
• Ferrante Pallavicino (1615–1644) satirist and novelist; his most important works: Baccinata ouero battarella per le api barberine (1642) and La Retorica delle puttane (1643)
• Giuseppe Parini (1729–1799), prose writer and poet; author of Dialogo sopra la nobiltà (1757) and Il giorno (4 books, 1763–1801)
• Cesare Ripa (c. 1560 – c. 1622), aesthetician and writer; author of the Iconologia overo Descrittione Dell’imagini Universali cavate dall’Antichità et da altri luoghi (1593), an influential emblem book
• Alessandro Verri (1741–1816), novelist and reformer; author of Le avventure di Saffo poetessa di Mitilene (1782), Notti romane al sepolcro degli Scipioni (1792–1804) and La vita di Erostrato (1815)
• Pietro Verri (1728–1797), political economist and writer; his chief works are: Riflessioni sulle leggi vincolanti (1769) and Meditazioni sull' economia politica (1771)
• Giambattista Vico (1668–1744), philosopher and historian; his major theories were developed in his Scienza nuova (1725)