Pulci, LUIGI

Pulci, LUIGI, an Italian poet, born at Florence, 3d December 1432, and died in 1484 (or 1487), was an intimate friend of Lorenzo de' Medici and of Politian. He is the author of a celebrated poem, Il Morgante Maggiore ('Morgante the Giant'), a burlesque epic of which Roland is the hero. This poem is one of the most valuable sources for the early Tuscan dialect, the niceties and idioms of which have been employed by Pulci with great skill (see ITALY, Vol. VI. p. 254). The first edition appeared at Venice in 1481, and the book has since been frequently reprinted. Pulci wrote further a humorous novel (printed in Classici Italiani, Milan, 1804) and several humorous sonnets.—His brother BERNARDO (born circa 1430) wrote an elegy on the death of Simonetta, mistress of Julian de' Medici, and the first translation of the Elegues of Virgil.—LUCA, another brother (born 1431), wrote a poem in honour of Lorenzo de' Medici's success in a tournament; Il Cirillo Calvaneo, a metrical romance of chivalry; Driadeo d'Amore, a pastoral poem; and Epistole Eroiche.