Author: MAGGI, Carlo Maria
Biography:
MAGGI, Carlo Maria (1630-99: DLB)
Born to a wealthy family in Milan, Italy, on 3 May 1630, Maggi’s birth year coincided with the outbreak of bubonic plague in Milan. His parents retreated from the city and his early years were spent at a villa in Lesmo, Brianza. After the family’s return to Milan he was educated by the Jesuits before commencing law studies at the University of Bologna in 1647. After taking his degree in 1649 he travelled in Italy before returning to Milan in 1656, the same year that he married Anna Maria Monticelli with whom he had eleven children. Maggi associated with the leading social, literary, and political figures in Milan and he was patronised by Count Vitaliano Borromeo. He developed a particular friendship and correspondence with Francesco Redi (q.v.). He was secretary to the Milan senate, professor of classics at the Palatine schools, and superintendent of the University of Pavia. Maggi wrote plays (including ones in dialect), libretti, and poems. His Rime Varie, including many sonnets, was published in 1688. Maggi died at Milan on 22 Apr. 1699. In 1700 a collection of his poetry, edited by his friend Ludovico Antonio Muratori, was issued in four volumes as Rime Varie di Carlo Maria Maggi. The English translators of Maggi included in this bibliography both have headnotes of their own. Mariana Starke published The Beauties of Carlo-Maria Maggi in 1811; the Advertisement establishes that she became familiar with his work not through Muratori’s edition but second-hand from Scelta di Alcune Rime Sacri e Morali (Pisa, 1793), selected by her friend Georgiana Spencer, the dowager Countess Spencer. James Glassford included poems by Maggi in his 1834 Lyrical Compositions Selected from the Italian Poets. (DLB online 12 Mar. 2025; CR 22 [1811], 442) SR