Giangiorgio Trissino

Giangiorgio Trissino (Vicenza 1478-Rome 1550) was a figure of great importance in the sphere of Italian and European Renaissance culture. A man of letters, poet, humanist and philologist, he poured all his energy into the construction of a new literature in the vulgar tongue. He travelled extensively in Italy, also as a diplomat, and Papal nuncio.
He had a profound knowledge of music and the fine arts, and loved architecture above all. He designed Villa Trissino at Cricoli and made it a place where to meet fellow literary men and artists. During building work he met Andrea di Pietro della Gondola to whom he gave the name of Palladio, and whose genius he immediately and intuitively understood.
Among his works the most memorable are: "Sofonisba" (1509), "Il Castellano"(1529), where he set out his ideas on the language, and "Italy liberated from the Goths" (1547-48), one of the first epic poems on a historical theme.