Sperone Speroni

Born April 12, 1500 in Padua, Sperone was the second child of Bernardino Speroni degli Alvarotti and Lucia Contarini.

[1] In 1518 he obtained the artibus degree from the University of Padua and joined the Guild (Sacro Collegio) of artists and physicians.

Between 1560 and 1564 he lived in Rome, where he became a close friend of Annibal Caro and frequented the meetings of the Accademia delle Notti Vaticane.

Speroni's Dialogo delle lingue (1542) greatly influenced French Renaissance thinking about the French language; it formed the basis of Joachim Du Bellay's Deffense et illustration de la langue française (1549)[3] and inspired in part the literary studies of Claude Fauchet.

His Dialogo delle lingue was an important source for Joachim du Bellay's Défense et illustration de la langue française.