Giambattista Basile was born in 1566 or 1575 to a middle class family, outside of Naples in the village of Posillipo. His mother was Cornelia Daniele and of his father we know only the surname. Basile's six brothers and sisters included singers, courtiers, and a composer.
Basile was a man of multiple literary personae. For the most part, his life was the typical one of a seventeenth-century man of letters: as he migrated from city to city and patron to patron, he composed verse on demand, organized court festivities and spectacles, was active in academies, and briefly served as a soldier. He later held administrative positions in the Neapolitan provinces, and ended his life with the title of count. His output in Italian …
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Citation: Canepa, Nancy Lucia. "Giambattista Basile". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 April 2009 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12302, accessed 21 November 2024.]
