Giovanni di Bernardo Rucellai

Giovanni di Bernardo Rucellai
Portrait of Giovanni di Bernardo Rucellai (1475–1525) with Castel Sant'Angelo in the background, engraved by Giacomo Malosso from a painting owned by the Rucellai family
Born	Giovanni Rucellai 20 October 1475 Florence, Florentine Republic
Died	3 April 1525 Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome
Nationality	Florentine
Occupation	man of letters
Known for	Oreste, Rosmunda, Le Api

Giovanni di Bernardo Rucellai (20 October 1475 – 3 April 1525) was an Italian humanist, poet, dramatist and man of letters in Renaissance Florence, in Tuscany, Italy. A member of a wealthy family of wool merchants and one of the richest men in Florence, he was cousin to Pope Leo X and linked by marriage to the powerful Strozzi and de' Medici families. He was born in Florence, and died in Rome. He was the son of Bernardo Rucellai (1448–1514) and grandson of Giovanni di Paolo Rucellai (1403–1481). He is now remembered mostly for his poem Le Api, "The Bees".

Giovanni Rucellai was born on 20 October 1475 in Florence, the fourth son of Bernardo Rucellai and Nannina de' Medici, sister of Lorenzo the Magnificent. He was proficient in Latin, Greek and philosophy; it is not known where or with whom he studied, except that he was a pupil of the philosopher Francesco Cattani da Diacceto.

Giovanni Rucellai was the Florentine ambassador to Venice when, in 1505, the French king Louis XII in Milan requested that the jurist Filippo Decio be allowed to leave his post at Padova, in the Republic of Venice, and move to Pavia. A letter dated 13 May 1506 shows that he was then in Avignon with his father.