d'Ascoli Cecco

Known as Cecco d'Ascoli, Francesco Stabili was an Italian poet, physician, and scholar from the Ascoli area, active in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. Sources agree that biographical details from his early life are scarce, but he became closely associated with the study of astrology and natural philosophy.

He is most famous for Acerba, an ambitious didactic poem that ranges across subjects such as the natural world, astronomy, and moral questions. The work brought him lasting literary fame and also reflected the independent, argumentative cast of his thinking.

Cecco later taught astrology at the University of Bologna. His ideas and writings brought him into conflict with religious authorities, and in 1327 he was executed in Florence after being condemned as a heretic. That combination of learning, controversy, and tragedy has kept his story alive for centuries.