Alessandro Piccolomini’s career as a humanist spans more than forty years, embracing numerous literary genres and mastering an exceptional array, even by Renaissance standards, of scholarly interests, in disciplines which range from theatre to poetry, rhetoric, poetics, ethics, logic, natural philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy.
Born in Siena in 1508, Piccolomini in his twenties joined the local Accademia degli Intronati [Academy of the Bewildered], a coterie of upper-class associates devoted to literary pursuits and the discussion of classical and vernacular writing. Professing a safe distance from the dramatic complexity of their historical and political environment, the Intronati tried to eschew dangerous conflicts with prevailing power structures. They fashioned themselves as a
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Citation: Baldi, Andrea. "Alessandro Piccolomini". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 April 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13091, accessed 21 November 2024.]
