Giannotti, Donato, 1492-1573, Italian political theorist, b. Florence. He studied at Pisa and in 1527 became secretary of the supreme council of the Florentine republic. After the Medici returned to power (1530), he lived in exile. Giannotti, whose precepts resemble those of Machiavelli, explained his political theory in several books. An ideal government, he believed, was a fusion of aristocratic, monarchical, and democratic institutions. He also wrote the comedy Vecchio amoroso [old man in love].

Donato Giannotti (1492 – 1573) was an Italian political writer and playwright.

He was one of the leaders of the shortlived Florentine Republic of 1527. He subsequently wrote theoretical works on republicanism. After the return of the Medicis, he lived in exile, dying in Rome. He was supported by Cardinal Niccolò Ridolfi.

He became acquainted with Michelangelo at the time he worked in the Signoria in Florence. According to Vasari, Giannotti approached Michelangelo with the commission from Ridolfi, for the Brutus.

Works

• Della repubblica fiorentina (1531)
• Dialogi de Republica Venetorum (1540)
• Il Vecchio amoroso, play
• Milesia in terzine, play
• Lettere a Piero Vettori
• Dialoghi de' Giorni che Dante Consumo nel Cercare l'Inferno e'l Purgatorio (1546)

References

• R. Starn (ed.), Donato Giannotti and His Epistolae (1968)
• D. J. Gordon, Gianotti, Michelangelo and the cult of Brutus, in: F. Saxl 1890-1984
• Donato Giannotti, ''Lettere a Piero Vettori, pubblicate sopra gli originali del British Museum da R. Ridolfi e C. Roth..., Florence, Vallecchi ed., 1932.

External links

• Columbia Encyclopedia article