Paolo Giovio
| Paolo Giovio | |
|---|---|
Paolo Giovio
|
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| Born |
19 April 1483 Isola Comacina of Lake Como |
| Died | 11 December 1552 (aged 69) Florence |
| Other names | Paulus Jovius, Paulo Jovio |
| Occupation | historian |
Paolo Giovio (also spelled Paulo Jovio; Latin: Paulus Jovius; 19 April 1483 – 11 December 1552) was an Italian physician, historian, biographer, and prelate.
Little is known about Giovio's youth. He was a native of Como; his family was from the Isola Comacina of Lake Como. His father, a notary, died around 1500. He was educated under the direction of his elder brother Francesco, a humanist and historian. Although interested in literature, he was sent to Padua to study medicine. He graduated in 1511.
He worked as physician in Como but, after the plague spread in that city he moved to Rome, settling there in 1513. Pope Leo X assigned him a cathedra (chair) of Moral Philosophy and, later, that of Natural Philosophy in the Roman university. He was also knighted by the Pope. In the same period he started to write historical essays. He wrote a memoir of Leo soon after his death.
In 1517 he was appointed as personal physician by the Cardinal Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici (the future pope Clement VII). In the field he wrote some treatises, like the De optima victus ratione, in which he expresses his doubts about the current pharmacology, and the need to improve prevention before the cure.
He helped Clement VII during the 1527 sack of Rome. From 1526 to 1528, he stayed on the island of Ischia as Vittoria Colonna's guest. In 1528, he became bishop of Nocera de' Pagani. Giovio wrote an account of Dmitry Gerasimov's embassy to Clement VII, which related detailed geographical data on Muscovy.
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