Pietro Bembo

Pietro Bembo (1470-1547), Italian scholar, born in Venice, and educated in Florence, Messina, and Padua (Padova). After six years at the court of Urbino, in 1512 he went to Rome and became secretary to Pope Leo X; in 1539 he was made a cardinal by Pope Paul III. He was historiographer of Venice and curator of Saint Mark's Cathedral library in 1529. He is credited with bringing about the 16th-century triumph of classic tradition in the Italian language and creating a style, in imitation of the Italian poet Petrarch's work, known as bembism. His influence on Italian literature, art, and social life was felt for three centuries. His works include Le prose della volgar lingua (Prose in the Vernacular, 1525) and Rerum Veneticarum Libri XII (A History of Venice, 1551).