Agnolo Firenzuola

Agnolo Firenzuola (28 September 1493 – 27 June 1543) was an Italian writer and poet, of mainly secular works, despite having been a Vallombrosan monk.

Firenzuola left Rome after the death of Pope Clement VII, and after spending some time at Florence, settled at Prato as abbot of Badia San Salvatore in Vaiano.

[2] It is asserted by all his biographers that while still a young man he assumed the monastic dress at Vallombrosa, and that he afterwards held successively two abbacies.

Among the prose works are Discorsi degli animali, derived from the animal fables of Aesop and the Panchatantra; Dialogo delle bellezze delle donne (Dialogue of the beauty of women), also translated into French; Ragionamenti amorosi, a series of short tales in the manner of Boccaccio, rivalling him in elegance and in licentiousness; Discacciamento delle nuove lettere, a controversial piece against Giangiorgio Trissino's proposal to introduce new letters into the Italian alphabet; a free version or adaptation of The Golden Ass of Apuleius, which became a favorite book and passed through many editions; and two comedies, I Lucidi, an imitation of the Menaechmi of Plautus, and La Trinuzia, which in some points resembles the Calandria of Cardinal Bibbiena.

All his works are esteemed as models of literary excellence, and are cited as authorities in the vocabulary of the Accademia della Crusca.