It was the first in a long-term series of efforts to get the patronage of the Medici family during the next decades, including a lengthy dedication of his 1624 reprint of the Venetia edificata to Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Celebrating the glory of the Republic of Venice, it was at the same time written in support of Galileo Galilei and his controversial scientific theories.

He wrote the libretto for the opening of the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo in 1639 (La Delia, music by Francesco Manelli), and for the 1641 opening of the Teatro Novissimo (La finta pazza, music by Francesco Sacrati).

He was the founder of some cultural "academies", gatherings of like-minded intellectuals; these included the Ordinati during his stay in Rome, and the Dubbiosi in Venice.

In 1637 he founded the Accademia degli Unisoni, a gathering of musicians where his adopted daughter Barbara sang.