Federico Commandino

Born in Urbino, he studied at Padua and then at Ferrara, where he received his doctorate in medicine under Antonio Musa Brassavola.

Initially, aided by Grassi, the bishop of Viterbo, he then came under the patronage of Pope Clement VIII.

In Urbino, he was sponsored by Guidobaldo II della Rovere, but then came to Rome with cardinal Ranuccio Farnese.

Lured back to Urbino by Francesco Maria II della Rovere.

In Urbino, he putatively met John Dee, and corresponded with the scholars Conrad Dasypodius (il Dasipodio), Gerolamo Cardano, Francesco Maurolico, and Christopher Clavius.