Pietro Aretino

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Pietro Aretino

1492-1556

Satirist

Man of Letters. Born in 1492 during the Golden Age of Florentine humanism, Pietro Aretino, who died from a stroke in 1556, is most recognized for the more than three thousand letters he published. These letters illuminate all facets of Italian life during the first half of the sixteenth century, from aesthetics to warfare, from sport to complicated religious dogma, from the eating of mushrooms to observations on how drunks stumble after a night spent imbibing. Given his prolific output, the sheer number of his readers, and the diversity of his themes, many intellectual historians regard him as Europe's first “journalist.” His writing is often quite licentious, and indeed he indulged his obsession with prostitution both in his writings and in his daily life. Not surprisingly, the Counter-Reformation Church placed his works on the Index of Forbidden Books in 1559. He has remained less famous and less read in our century than either Niccolò Machiavelli or Desiderius Erasmus, two other Renaissance writers whose works were similarly censured, perhaps as a result of the pornographic nature of a good deal of his work.

Savage Wit. Aretino's father was a cobbler in the Tuscan countryside. His mother was famous for her beauty, and became, despite her marital status and the fact that she had borne four children, the live-in mistress of a local nobleman, Luigi Bacci. In his youth Aretino lived with his mother in Bacci's household, though he ran away at the age of eighteen to Perugia and became a house servant for the noted humanist Francesco Bontempi. In this capacity the young Aretino was introduced to Perugia's painters and poets, and, primarily as a painter, he began his own lifelong commitment to the humanist cause. After a while in Francesco's service, Aretino moved to Rome, where the wealthy Sienese financier, Agostino Chigi, sponsored him as a humanist in the service of the Chigi family. In Rome, Aretino quickly became noted for his savage wit, intelligence, keen powers of observation, and writing skill. He was invited to meet Rome's leading artists and thinkers, including Raphael, whose later painting of him hangs today in the Louvre in Paris.

Papal Connections. In 1521 Giulio de Medici, a candidate for the papacy, hired Aretino to write pro-Medici propaganda pamphlets, as well as pieces that lampooned the other candidates. Unfortunately for Aretino, another candidate, Adrian of Utrecht, whom Aretino's pen had scorched, was selected pope, and the ambitious young humanist was forced to flee Rome. Clearly talented, Aretino secured a position at the court of Federico Gonzaga, the Duke of Mantua. In Federico's service Aretino continued to further his reputation as a skilled writer and satirist. When, in 1523, Giulio de Medici became Pope Clement VII, Aretino was recalled to Rome, and his future seemed bright. Unfortunately, one of Aretino's friends created a scandal by distributing humiliating sketches of Bishop Giberti, a valued adviser to Pope Clement. Aretino angered Giberti by securing the release of his friend from prison, and compounded the bishop's rage by proceeding to write sixteen pornographic pieces, Sonetti lussuriosi (Lewd Sonnets, 1524), supposedly chronicling Giberti's favorite sexual maneuvers. Naturally, Clement favored his bishop over his humanist, and Aretino was forced to flee Rome for the second time in two years. He traveled to France, offering his services to the French king, Francis I. Later reconciled with Clement, Aretino returned to Rome. Though a play of his published in 1525, A Comedy About Court Life, displays Aretino's great wit, wonderful style, and uninhibited freedom, it also savagely ridiculed the debauchery at the papal court, earning, for Aretino, Clement's displeasure. Had Aretino remained in Clement's good graces, he might have been able to seduce the mistress of a powerful Roman resident, Delia Volta, with impunity, but he did not enjoy Clement's favor, and Delia Volta avenged his humiliation by trying to have Aretino assassinated. Though he survived the attempt, Aretino's right hand was wounded, preventing him from ever painting again. In 1525, a second flight to Mantua occurred, from where Aretino published satirical sonnets and plays that ridiculed Clement's court and clients. An assassination attempt in 1527 forced Aretino to relocate yet again, and this time he settled in Venice, where he remained for the rest of his life.

Exile in Venice. Sixteenth-century Venice was infamous for its tolerance of free speech, its relative religious heterodoxy, and its prostitutes. Wealthy and militarily powerful, Venice safeguarded the entire Italian peninsula from the Ottoman Turks and so could ignore the prohibitions of Counter Reformation Catholicism emanating from Rome. Consequently, Venice attracted scholars and artists seeking freedom, and, like Gentile da Fabriano, Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione, and Titian, Aretino found Venice instantly to his liking. Becoming friendly with Titian gave Aretino instant acceptance in Venice's artistic community and a wide circle of friends. Aretino also befriended Pietro Bembo at this time, a man who had risen to prominence as Pope Leo X's secretary. At the height of his social and political influence, Aretino could concentrate on his literary output, which made him quite wealthy; he could afford to live the lifestyle of a courtier without having to be one. Aretino's satire was so vicious that he, in effect, could “blackmail” Europe's rulers, who voluntarily gave him great sums to avoid being the target of his wit and pen. Artistically free from having to please a patron, and financially free as well, he led what would later be called a “Bohemian” lifestyle in a house in the center of Venice, overlooking the Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal. In this house he established his own court of sorts, living among his secretaries, collaborators on literary projects, mistresses (both male and female), servants, and various friends. Though he fathered several children, he never married.

Patron of the Arts. Aretino championed young writers who bucked convention, and he supported artists who attempted to fashion new artistic styles and social attitudes. William Shakespeare, for example, later claimed Aretino influenced him. Aretino was both loved and hated. He was one of three Venetians chosen by the Senate to meet the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V when the latter traveled to Verona in 1543. He received a papal knighthood and pension in 1550, but his work was placed on the Index in 1559; he earned the favor of King Henry VIII of England by dedicating a book of letters to him in 1542, but England's ambassador to Venice tried to have him assassinated in 1547. His six volumes of published letters, an invaluable source for social historians who concentrate on the Italian Renaissance, contain Aretino's commentaries on food, recipes, types of wine, table manners, household furnishings, clothing styles, and daily life in Venice.