Antonio Abbondanti

Antonio Abbondanti
Antonio Abbondanti
Born	c. 1600; Imola, Duchy of Ferrara
Died	May 17, 1653; Liège, Spanish Netherlands
Occupations	Poet; Historian; Diplomat;
	Writing career
Language	Italian
Literary movement	Baroque; Marinism;
Notable works	Viaggio in Colonia; Gazzette Menippee di Parnaso

Antonio Abbondanti (Latin: Antonius Abundantius; c. 1600 – 17 May 1653) was an Italian Baroque poet and historian.

Biography edit

We know little of Abbondanti's life. His biography must largely be deduced from his writings. He was born in Imola around 1600. He was in the service of Pier Luigi Carafa, pontifical governor of Fermo. When Carafa was appointed nuntius of Cologne, he followed him to Germany.^[1] He remained in Germany even after the repatriation of Carafa. In 1630 Abbondanti made a journey through the Spanish Netherlands, and in Liège he published a narrative poem on the biblical figure of Judith and a panegyric of the Count of Tilly.^[1] As a result of his trip he later (1641) published his Breviario delle guerre dei Paesi Bassi, an account of the Eighty Years' War based on literary sources.^[1] In 1652 he took on the role of nuntius ad interim.^[1] In 1652 he retired to Liège, where he died in on May 17, 1653.^[2] He was buried in a side chapel of the Liège Cathedral.^[2] Abbondanti was a member of the Bolognese Accademia degli Innominati, assuming the pseudonym of Avvivato.^[1]

Works edit

A devotee of marinism in the manner of those who fought for literary independence (Caporali, Boccalini, Tassoni), Abbondanti was a nonconformist disciple of the writers of satira regolare. He wrote in a hispanized Italian. His main work consisted of the ten Capitoli in terza rima of his Gazzette Menippee di Parnaso (Menippean journals of Parnassus, 1629), in which he revealed himself as a reactionary, an archenemy of Galileo, and a shrewd connoisseur of politics, princes, and prelates. His Viaggio in Colonia (Travel to Cologne, 1625) is considered one of the most brillant satirical poems of the 17th century.^[3] Written in the style of Francesco Berni, it narrates in a caustic way the journey from Fermo to Cologne, which Abbondanti undertook in the service of Carafa.^[4] Combining real events with imaginary ones, the poem proved extremely popular.^[3] Abbondanti's Encomio di Napoli, published in the Venice edition of the Gazzette Menippee di Parnaso (1629), was reissued by Benedetto Croce in his Nuovi saggi sulla letteratura italiana del Seicento.^[1]

List of works edit

Viaggio in Colonia. Cologne. 1625.
Gazzette Menippee di Parnaso. Venice: Francesco Baba. 1629.
La Giuditta e le rime sacre, morali, e varie. Liège: Jean Ouwerx. 1630.
L'Ercole cristiano rappresentante l'illustrissimo ... conte Giovanni di Tilli, generale dell'armi cesaree et della lega cattolica, panegirico di Antonio Abbondanti, da Imola. Liège: Jean Ouwerx. 1630.
Breviario delle guerre dei Paesi Bassi. Cologne: Andreas Bingen. 1641.

Notes edit

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Orlandelli 1960.
^ ^a ^b Maquet 1999, p. 12.
^ ^a ^b Diffley 2002.
^ Maquet 1999, p. 11.

Bibliography edit

Orlandelli, Gianfranco (1960). "ABBONDANTI, Antonio". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Volume 1: Aaron–Albertucci (in Italian). Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. pp. 39–40. ISBN 978-8-81200032-6.
Maquet, Albert (1999). "Abbondanti, Antonio" (PDF). Biographie Nationale de Belgique. Vol. 5. pp. 11–12.
Diffley, Paul (2002). "Abbondanti, Antonio". The Oxford Companion to Italian Literature. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 7 June 2023.