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Scipione Ammirato

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SCIPIONE AMMIRATO (1531-1601), Italian historian, born at Lecce, in the kingdom of Naples. His father, intending him for the profession of law, sent him to study at Naples, but his own decided preference for literature prevented him from fulfilling his father's wishes. Entering the church, he resided for a time at Venice, and afterwards engaged in the service of Pope Pius IV. In 1569 he went to Florence, where he was fortunate in securing the patronage and support of Duke Cosimo I., who gave him a residence at the Medici Palace and the Villa Zopaja on the understanding that he should write his Istorie Fiorentine (1600), the work by which he is best known. In 1595 he was made a canon of the cathedral of Florence. He died in 1601. Among the other works of Ammirato, some of which were first published after his death, may be mentioned discourses on Tacitus and genealogies of the families of Naples and Florence.