DELLA CASA, GIOVANNI (1503-1556), Italian poet, was born at Mugillo, in Tuscany. He studied at Bologna, Flor ence and Rome, and Pope Paul III. made him nuncio to Florence, where he was elected a member of the celebrated academy, and then to Naples. He was appointed to the archbishopric of Bene vento, and it was believed that it was only his openly licentious poem, Capitoli del forno, and the fact that the French court seemed to desire his elevation, which prevented him from being raised to a still higher dignity. He died in Rome on Nov. 14, 1556. Casa was the leader of a reaction in lyric poetry against the universal imitation of Petrarch, and originated a style, which, if less soft and elegant, was more nervous and majestic than that which it replaced. His principal prose work is 11 Galateo (1558), a treatise of manners, which has been translated into several lan guages. A reproduction of the English translation by R. Peterson (5576) was edited by H. J. Reid in 1892.
A complete edition of his works, which include translations from Thucydides, Plato and Aristotle, was published at Florence in 17o7, to which is prefixed a life by Casotti. The best edition is that of Venice, 1752.