Vespasiano da Bisticci

Born in Bisticci, Vespasiano stood out at first in Medicean Florence for his activity as a bookseller, making and selling high-quality copies to the main exponents of Florentine power. Due to this same fame, Vespasiano played a fundamental role in the creation of the Laurentian Library, the first volumes of which came out of his workshop.

 Born in Bisticci, Vespasiano stood out at first in Medicean Florence for his activity as a bookseller, making and selling high-quality copies to the main exponents of Florentine power. Due to this same fame, Vespasiano played a fundamental role in the creation of the Laurentian Library, the first volumes of which came out of his workshop.

With the arrival and spread of the printing press, in the 1460s, Vespasiano decided to cease his activity as a bookseller and retire to Antella to dedicate himself to writing. The composition of his best-known work, Las Vidas, dates back to this period. A collection of 103 biographies of famous men and for which, according to the author, he was labeled a misogynist.

Faced with this situation, and as a palinodia, in the 1489s he composed two short works in which the defense of the female gender is a constant: the Exhortazione a Caterina de’ Portinari y la Vita di Alessandra de’ Bardi. These titles open the way to a much more ambitious project that is presented as a counterpoint to Male Lives: the Libro delle lodi e commendazione delle donne, a comprehensive collection of biographies of biblical, Roman and Florentine women.