Berardino Rota | |
|---|---|
 Berardino Rota | |
| Born | 1509 |
| Died | 26 December 1574(1574-12-26) (aged 64–65) |
| Resting place | San Domenico Maggiore |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 7 |
| Writing career | |
| Language | |
| Period | |
| Genres | Poetry |
| Literary movement | Italian Renaissance |
| Notable works | Egloghe pescatorie Sonetti in morte di Portia Capece |
Berardino Rota (1509 – 26 December 1574) was an ItalianRenaissance humanist andpoet.
Born to a wealthy and noble Neapolitan family, Rota was a disciple of Marcantonio Epicuro.[1]
He was a leading figure in the literary life of the middle of the 16th century. He numbered among his friendsAnnibale Caro,Piero Vettori, andPaulus Manutius and was a member ofVittoria Colonna's literary circle.[2] In 1543 he married Porzia Capece, the daughter of the head of theAccademia PontanianaScipione Capece.[3] In 1546, Rota became a member of the Accademia dei Sereni in Naples.[1] He was a knight of theOrder of Santiago, and held the position of Secretary to the city of Naples.[1] He died in Naples on 26 December 1574.[1]
Together withLuigi Tansillo,Angelo di Costanzo, and Galeazzo di Tarsia, Rota was one of the most celebrated Neapolitan poets of his generation.[4] He was a pivotal figure in the revival of Petrarchism in Naples.[5]
Rota wrote bothItalian andLatin poetry. He owes his fame mainly to a form of poetry that belongs peculiarly to Naples, the piscatorialeclogue. This form, which his countrymanSannazaro had invented and practised in Latin, Rota transferred to the vernacular. He composed hispiscatorial eclogues about 1533; they were printed in 1560, 1566, 1567, and 1572. Rota was of the same generation asDella Casa, and one sees in his Eclogues a Latinisation of the style parallel to Della Casa's infusion ofHoratian andVirgilian gravity into the sonnet.[6]
Besides his eclogues, Rota composed a much praised collection ofsonnets written on the death of his wife in 1559.[3] TheseSonetti et Canzoni were published with the poet'sEcloghe Pescatorie (separate title and pagination) at Naples in 1560.
Rota's Latin verse is singularly like his vernacular verse in character, and shows the same preoccupations.[2] It consists ofElegies,Epigrams, and Sylvae, the last poem of the Sylvae being a lament for his wife.[3] These poems were published in 1567.Scipione Ammirato dedicated to him his dialogueIl Rota overo delle imprese (1562).[7]
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