Niccolò Franco (13/14 September 151511 March 1570) was a poet and literato executed for libel.

Life

Born in

Benevento Benevento ( ; , ; ) is a city and (municipality) of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the Sabato (r ...

to a modest family, Franco completed humanistic studies at the school of his brother Vincenzo. In his youth he made friends with his compatriot Antonio Delli Sorici. In 1544 he moved to Naples where he undertook legal studies, coming into contact with the jurist Bartolomeo Camerario. In

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

he wrote a hundred Latin epigrams in honor of Isabella di Capua, wife of

Ferrante I Gonzaga Ferrante I Gonzaga (also Ferdinando I Gonzaga; 28 January 1507 – 15 November 1557) was an Italian condottiero, a member of the House of Gonzaga and the founder of the branch of the Gonzaga of Guastalla. Biography Ferrante was born in Mantua ...

. In 1536 he moved to

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, as a guest of Benedetto Agnelli, speaker of the

Duke of Mantua During its Timeline of Mantua, history as independent entity, Mantua had different rulers who governed on the city and the lands of Mantua from the Middle Ages to the early modern period. From 970 to 1115, the Counts of Mantua were members of ...

. In August of the same year he published the poem ''Il tempio di Amore'' in octaves. Carlo Simiani showed that ''Il Tempio di Amore'' was actually plagiarised by Franco from the Neapolitan Iacopo Campanile, known as ‘Capanio’. The following year he entered the service of the famous writer and poet

Pietro Aretino Pietro Aretino (, ; 19 or 20 April 1492 – 21 October 1556) was an Italian author, playwright, poet, satire, satirist and blackmailer, who wielded influence on contemporary art and politics. He was one of the most influential writers of his ti ...

. Given his predisposition to letters, no less than to invective, Franco soon became the secretary of Aretino and, after a few years, he decided to go freelance, offering his services to well-known personages of the day. Aretino was averse to this initiative and after some verbal or written exchanges, the dispute ended with Franco receiving a dagger blow to his face from Ambrogio Eusebi, the friend of Aretino, that left him scarred, and resulted in his decision to move to another city. He travelled the Italian peninsula offering his services to various gentlemen and lords (

Casale Monferrato Casale Monferrato () is a town in the Piedmont region of Northwest Italy, northwestern Italy, in the province of Alessandria. It is situated about east of Turin on the right bank of the Po River, Po, where the river runs at the foot of the Montfe ...

Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...

Cosenza Cosenza (; Languages of Calabria#Northern Calabrian (Cosentian), Cosentian: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city located in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000, while the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. ...

, Naples) arriving in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in 1558. While in Rome he thought of starting the career of writer and libelist, putting his pen at the disposal of the various powerful citizens, from whom he was soon hired to produce eulogies, invectives, licentious sonnets and any other literary product requested at the time, including some

pasquinade A pasquinade or pasquil is a form of satire, usually an anonymous brief lampoon in verse or prose, and can also be seen as a form of literary caricature. The genre became popular in early modern Europe, in the 16th century, though the term had b ...

; but shortly after his arrival, on 15 July 1558 he was arrested in the home of Bartolomeo Camerario, then ''

praefectus annonae The ("prefect of the provisions"), also called the ("prefect of the grain supply"), was a Roman official charged with the supervision of the grain supply to the city of Rome. Under the Republic, the job was usually done by an aedile. However, ...

'', who was also arrested for embezzlement, and Franco remained in prison for eight months. He regained his freedom on February 6, 1559 thanks to the intervention of

Giovanni Carafa, Duke of Paliano Giovanni Carafa (died 5 March 1561), Duke of Paliano, was a nepotism, papal nephew and minor Italy, Italian prince. The son of Giovanni Alfonso Carafa, Count of Montorio al Vomano, Montorio, and Caterina Cantelma, Giovanni came to prominence alon ...

; with his freedom the seized papers were returned to him. He gained familiarity within the social circle of Cardinal Giovanni Morone. His great misfortune was to accept a commission from the Apostolic Tax Prosecutor Alessandro Pallantieri, to produce an infamous pamphlet and some pasquinades addressed to

Pope Paul IV Pope Paul IV (; ; 28 June 1476 – 18 August 1559), born Gian Pietro Carafa, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 May 1555 to his death, in August 1559. While serving as papal nuncio in Spain, he developed ...

(Pietro Carafa), for distribution following his death ("''Commento sopra la vita et costumi di Giovan Pietro Carafa che fu Paolo IV chiamato, et sopra le qualità de tutti i suoi et di coloro che con lui governaro il pontificato''"). In 1557 Pallantieri had been investigated for tax offenses and imprisoned. Cardinal Carlo Carafa having dismissed him was considered his enemy. Following the death of Paul IV,

Pope Pius IV Pope Pius IV (; 31 March 1499 – 9 December 1565), born Giovanni Angelo Medici, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 December 1559 to his death, in December 1565. Born in Milan, his family considered itself a b ...

(Giovanni Medici) was elected to release Pallantieri, appoint him Governor of Rome and to send to death, after a summary trial, two important members of the Carafa family. Everything seemed to be going well, when in 1566 the sudden death of Pius IV and the electoral alliance between cardinals Borromeo and Farnese, worried by the enormous power of Pallantieri, caused the unexpected election of Antonio Ghislieri, pupil of the family Carafa, with the name of

Pius V Pope Pius V, OP (; 17 January 1504 – 1 May 1572), born Antonio Ghislieri (and from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 January 1566 to his death, in May 1572. He was an ...

. As soon as he arrived on the papal throne, Pius V ordered the revision of the "Carafa trial", dismissed Pallantieri from Rome and began an investigation into the actions of the former governor. It is in the context of this clash between the powerful that the writer was overwhelmed by events. The house of Niccolò Franco was searched, all the papers were seized and he was imprisoned (1 September 1568). Questioned and tortured, Franco confessed to Pallantieri's commission for the creation of the libels against Paul IV and his family, entitled "''Commento sopra la vita et costumi di Gio. Pietro Carafa che fu Paolo IV chiamato et sopra le qualità de tutti i suoi et di coloro che con lui governaro in pontificato''". Probably to preempt a retraction, which would have prevented Pallantieri's indictment, and despite Cardinal Morone's defense of the writer at trial, Franco was sentenced to death and hanged on 11 March 1570, in Ponte Sant'Angelo in Rome, in accordance with that recent law which, ironically, Pallantieri had strongly wanted and promulgated, as governor of Rome. A road in the Italian city of

is dedicated to him.

Works

*''Pistole vulgari'' (1539) *''Petrarchista'' (1539); a satire on the imitators of the style of

Petrarch Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest Renaissance humanism, humanists. Petrarch's redis ...

*''Dialoghi piacevolissimi'' (1539); in homage to

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' (Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

*''Rime contro Pietro Aretino'' (1545) *''Priapea'' (1546); probably inspired by the 1534 publication of a collection of ''Diversorum Veterum poetarum in Priapum lusus'' together with the virgilian ''Appendix'' and the pseudo-virgilian ''Priapea''. *''Il Duello'' (1546) *''La Philena'' (1547); romance *''Rime maritime'' (1547) *''Dialogi piacevoli'' (1554) *''Dix Plaisans dialogues'' (1579); transl., from Italian into French by Gabriel Chappuys. *''Dialoghi piacevolissimi di Nicolo Franco da Benevento. Espurgati da Girolamo Gioannini da Capugnano…'' (1590, 1599, 1609) *''De le Lettere di Nicolò Franco, scritte a prencipi, signori, et ad altri personaggi e suoi amici, libri tre, ne le quali si scuopre l'arte del polito e del terso scrivere. Di nuovo ristampate et à candida lezione ridotte a Giovanni Bruno' (1604, 1615) *''Li Due Petrarchisti, dialoghi di Nicolò Franco e di Ercole Giovannini, ne' quali... si scuoprono... secretti soprà il Petrarca e si danno a leggere molte lettere missive... que lo stesso Petrarca... scrisse al re Roberto di Napoli...'' (1623) Li Due Petrarchisti, dialoghi di Nicolò Franco e di Ercole Giovannini (1623)
/ref> *''Li due Petrarchisti. Dialoghi di Nicolò Franco e di Ercole Giovannini...'' (1625) *''Baldi, Rota, Franco, del Vasto, Fidentio, marittimi e pedanteschi del secolo XVI''. ublished by Andrea Rubbi.(1787) *''La Priapea, sonetti lussuriosisatirici'' (1790) *''Dialogi piacevoli'' (2003) *''Dialogo del venditore di libri'' (2005)

References

External links

Nicolò Franco (1515-1570) www.bnf.fr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Franco, Niccolo 1515 births 1570 deaths 16th-century Italian poets 16th-century Italian male writers People executed by hanging