Giovanni Andrea Viscardi

Little is know about the life of Giovanni Andrea Viscardi, lawyer and historian, native of Bergamo. He studied in Padova, where he became friend of Torquato Bembo, the son of the famous humanist Pietro. Before 1555 he entered the service of the Grimaldi, lords of Monaco. Later on he accompanied the bishop of Bergamo to the Council of Trent. Viscardi spent most of his life in Bergamo, even though he briefly served as podestà in Lovere. In 1590 he published the Dialogo della miseria della vita humana et della certezza della vita eterna, which deals with death and the reversals of fortune topics that are extensively discussed also in his letters. In 1597 he dedicated to the doge Marino Grimani his Precetti morali e civili con molti et varii essempi. He is also said to have been loved by the poetess Gaspara Stampa, whose Rime (1554) contain four poems dedicated to him.