Palmieri, Matteo

Abstract

The Florentine apothecary Matteo Palmieri (1406–1475) benefited from a humanistic education, which inspired him to compose several works of learning. In Latin, he wrote three historical tracts – a chronicle of his times, an account of the 1406 subjugation of Pisa, and a biography of Niccolò Acciaiuoli – and in Italian two philosophical works with chiastic titles, the Ciceronian dialogue Della vita civile and the cosmological poem Città di vita. As a philosopher, Palmieri is scarcely original. His dialogue presents eminent Florentines expounding ethical doctrines that are largely derived from Cicero, while his poem in terza rima portrays Dante and the Cumaean Sibyl as they observe the fate of human souls after death. All the same, Palmieri is important as a lay representative of that strain of Florentine humanism that embraced both the classical heritage and the vernacular tradition of Tuscan poetry and piety.