Giovanni Francesco Busenello (24 September 1598 – 27 October 1659) was an Italian lawyer, librettist and poet of the 17th century.

[1] Born to an upper-class family of Venice, he is believed to have studied at the University of Padua, where according to himself he was taught by Paolo Sarpi and Cesare Cremonino.

[1] In musical history, he is best remembered for five libretti, each written for the Venetian opera and set by Claudio Monteverdi and Francesco Cavalli.

[1] His libretto for Gli amori d'Apollo e di Dafne (Cavalli, 1640) is heavily based on Giovanni Battista Guarini's Il pastor fido, while L'incoronazione di Poppea (1642), set by Monteverdi, is noted among early libretti for the strength and vividness with which the individual characters are sketched.

[1] Patrick J. Smith, in his study of the opera libretto, describes La prosperità infelice di Giulio Cesare dittatore as Busenello's "greatest achievement,"[2] and "the true mastery of the epic libretto.