Lodovico Castelvetro

Who was Lodovico Castelvetro?

Lodovico Castelvetro was an important figure in the development of neo-classicism, especially in drama. It was his reading of Aristotle that led to a widespread adoption of a tight version of the Three Unities, as a dramatic standard.

His Poetica d'Aristotele vulgarizzata e sposita was called the most famous Italian Renaissance commentary on Aristotle's Poetics. His supposed involvement in translation of Protestant texts caused him trouble with the Church. He was labelled a heretic in 1557, and lived in exile from his native Italy. His Giunta, a commentary on the Prose della volgar lingua by Bembo, is one of the earlier texts on Italian grammar, and linguistics in general; his contemporaries objected to him that his theories were a little too philosophical for their time.