Francisco Delicado

Francisco Delicado (or Delgado) (c. 1480 – c. 1535) was a Spanish writer and editor of the Renaissance.

He was born in Cordoba, Spain and, for uncertain reasons, he moved to Rome, where he Italianized his surname to Delicado.

After the sack of Rome, he went to Venice where he wrote his novel Portrait of Lozana: The Lusty Andalusian Woman (El retrato de la Loçana Andaluza, 1528), that continues on the lines of the novel in dialogue exemplified by Celestina.

The book is a social and historical portrait of Rome and its dark side in the first years of the 16th century, and one of the first works of the picaresque novel.

His favourable portrait of Jews has led some to suspect that he was a Converso.