Giovanni Antonio Campani

Who was Giovanni Antonio Campani?

Giovanni Antonio Campani called Campanus, a protégé of Cardinal Bessarion, was a Neapolitan-born humanist at the court of Pope Pius II, whose funeral oration he wrote, followed by a biography, flattering but filled with personal reminiscence, written ca 1470-77. Campanus was famous for his Latin orations, poems and letters. In addition to Bessarion's Academy, Campanus was a member of the Roman circle of Pomponius Leto. After the death of the Pope in 1464, Campani taught at the Florentine Academy.

Campanus was known for his Latin poetry. The famous four epigrammatic lines on a sleeping nymph Huius nympha loci..., thought to be of Roman origin until revealed as a product of Renaissance humanism by Theodore Mommsen, were identified as Campani's from a note in a manuscript in the Bibliotheca Ricciardiana, Florence. He wrote a vita in Latin of the condottiero Braccio Fortebracci da Montone.

Giovanni Battista Campani was born at Cavelli, near Galluccio, in the province of Caserta, to a family of very modest condition, in the midst of the war between Angevin and Aragonese contenders for the Kingdom of Naples.