Italian Poets of Antiquity
Gnaeus Naevius (c. 275 BC - 201 BC) – The oldest Roman dramatist and the first author of an epic poem: Bellum Punicum.
Ennius (239 BC - 169 BC) – Called the “Father of Roman Poetry”. His most important work is Annales, an epic poem on the early history of the Ancient Rome.
Lucilius (c. 180 - 102 BC) – Founder of the Roman satire genre. Only fragments of his works survive.
Lucretius (c. 94 BC - c. 55 BC) – Poet and philosopher. His only surviving work is the philosophical poem De rerum natura.
Virgil (70 BC - 19 AD) – One of the three greatest Roman poets with Horace and Ovid. Best known for writing the epic poem the Aeneid. His two other major works are the Eclogues and the Georgics.
Horace (65 BC - 8 AD) – One of the three greatest Roman poets with Virgil and Ovid. His poetical works includes his Odes, Satires, Epodes and Ars Poetica.
Propertius (c. 47 BC - 15 BC) – His surviving work comprises four books of Elegies.
Ovid (43 BC - c. 17/18 AD) – One of the three greatest Roman poets with Virgil and Horace. Best known for the Metamorphoses, the Ars Amatoria and the Fasti.
Silius Italicus (c. 25-101 AD) – Consul, orator and poet. His only surviving work is the Punica, an epic poem about the Second Punic War and the longest surviving poem in Latin.
Persius (34-62 AD) – One of the four great Roman satirists with Lucilius, Horace and Juvenal.
Lucan (39-65 AD) – Regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Silver Age of Latin literature.
Statius (c. 45-96 AD) – One of the main exponents of the epic poetry in the Flavian period. His surviving works includes the epic poem the Thebaid, the Silvae, and the unfinished epic the Achilleid.
Juvenal (c. 50-127 AD) – Considered the greatest Roman satirist. Best known as the author of a collection of satirical poems known as the Satires.
Italian Poets of Late Antiquity
Faltonia Betitia Proba (c. 306 - c. 353) – The earliest female Christian poet and the first writer to compose a Christian cento. Her greatest poem is the Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi.
Prudentius (348 - c. 405) – One of the earliest Christian poets. His Psychomachia was the first and most influential completely allegorical poem in European literature.
Paulinus of Nola (355-431) – Poet, writer, senator, consul, governor and bishop. His poems were used as educational models. He is also credited with the invention of bells.
Sidonius Apollinaris (c. 430-489) – Poet, senator, prefect and bishop. One of the most important Roman and Christian poets of the 5th century. Considered the last representative of classical Roman culture in Gaul.
Magnus Felix Ennodius (c. 474-521) – Poet and bishop. One of the last representatives of the ancient school of rhetoric. Although best known for his biography of St. Epiphanius, he also composed several poems, including two Itineraria.
Venantius Fortunatus (530-607) – The last major Latin poet of late antiquity. Best known for two poems which became part of the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church: the Pange lingua gloriosi proelium certaminis and the Vexilla Regis prodeunt.
Italian Poets of the Middle Ages
Francis of Assisi (c. 1181-1226) – His Canticle of the Sun was the first poem written in the vernacular Italian language.
Giacomo da Lentini (c. 1210-1260) – One of the main representatives of the Sicilian School of poetry. Inventor of the sonnet.
Guido Guinizzelli (1235-1276) – Founder of the Dolce Stil Novo movement together with Guido Cavalcanti.
Guido Cavalcanti (c. 1258-1300) – Poet and troubadour. Founder of the Dolce Stil Novo movement together with Guido Guinizzelli.
Jacopone da Todi (c. 1236-1306) – Poet and Franciscan friar. Considered one of the most important Italian poets of the Middle Ages and one of the most famous authors of religious lauds in all Italian literature. He was also an early pioneer in Italian theatre, being one of the earliest scholars to dramatize Gospel subjects.
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) – Called the “Father of the Italian Language”. Regarded as the greatest Italian poet and one of the greatest poets of all time. His Divine Comedy is widely considered the most important poem of the Middle Ages, the greatest literary work in the Italian language and one of the pinnacles of Western literature. Together with Petrarch and Boccaccio, he one of the “Three Crowns” of Italian literature.
Italian Poets of the Renaissance
Francesco Petrarca or Petrarch (1304-1374) – Called the “Father of the Renaissance”. Famous for developing the Petrarchan sonnet, which became a model for lyrical poetry. Together with Dante and Boccaccio, he one of the “Three Crowns” of Italian literature. His most celebrated poem is Italia mia, the 128th canzone of his Il Canzoniere.
Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) – Although best remembered for his novellas and biographies, he was also an important poet. His most famous poetic works are Teseida, Il Filocolo, Il Filostrato and Amorosa visione. Together with Dante and Petrarch, he one of the “Three Crowns” of Italian literature.
Luigi Pulci (1432-1484) – Best known for his epic poem Morgante, one of the outstanding epics of the Renaissance.
Matteo Maria Boiardo (1441-1494) – Best remembered for his epic poem Orlando Innamorato.
Agnolo Poliziano (1454-1494) – Generally considered the greatest Italian poet of the 15th century.
Jacopo Sannazaro (1457-1530) – Best remembered for his pastoral poem Arcadia, a masterwork which instituted the theme of Arcadia in European literature.
Pietro Bembo (1470-1547) – Scholar, poet and cardinal. Celebrated for his contribution to the development and standardization of the Italian language. His ideas were also decisive in the formation of the most important secular musical form of the 16th century, the madrigal. The typeface Bembo is named after him.
Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533) – Best known as the author of the epic poem Orlando Furioso, a continuation of Boiardo's Orlando Innamorato.
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) – A Renaissance polymath best remembered as a sculptor, architect and painter, he was also one of Renaissance Italy's greatest poets.
Gian Giorgio Trissino (1478-1550) – His L'Italia liberata dai Goti was the first heroic poem and historical epic written in the classical manner. He is also credited as the inventor of blank verse.
Giovanni Battista Guarini (1538-1612) – With Torquato Tasso, he is credited with establishing the form of a new literary genre: the pastoral drama. He was also the most important poet to contribute to the flowering of the madrigal in the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras.
Torquato Tasso (1544-1595) – Best known for his epic poem Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Delivered). With Guarini, he is also credited with establishing the form of a new literary genre: the pastoral drama.
Italian Poets of the Baroque Period
Alessandro Tassoni (1565-1635) – Credited with inventing the model of the heroi-comic genre with his La secchia rapita (The Rape of the Bucket).
Giambattista Marino (1569-1625) – Founder of the school of Marinism, later called Secentismo. He is most famous for his long epic L'Adone.
Emanuele Tesauro (1592-1675) – His Il Cannocchiale Aristotelico is considered one of the most important statements of poetics in 17th century Europe.
Fulvio Testi (1593-1646) – One of the leading exponents of Italian Baroque literature.
Italian Poets of the Settecento
Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782) – Regarded as the greatest librettist of all time and one of the greatest poets of the 18th century.
Giuseppe Parini (1729-1799) – Poet and abbot. One of the greatest Italian Neoclassical poets.
Italian Poets of the Risorgimento
Alessandro Manzoni (1785-1873) – Although best known as a novelist and playwright, he was also regarded as one of the greatest poets of his age. His most notable poetic works are the Inni sacri, Marzo 1821 and Il cinque maggio.
Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837) – One of the principal figures of literary romanticism. Considered the greatest Italian poet of the 19th century and one of the greatest poets in history.
Goffredo Mameli (1827-1849) – Best known for his poem Il Canto degli Italiani, which became the lyrics of the national anthem of Italy.
Italian Poets of the Modern Period
Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888-1970) – Poet, journalist, essayist, critic and academic. Considered one of the greatest Italian poets of the 20th century.
