Ercole Santucci Perugino

Ercole Santucci Perugino is known for Mastro da Ballo, an Italian dance manual dated 1614. The work presents rules, steps, variations, and balletti, and it was written as a practical guide for students learning different kinds of dance.

Very little biographical information about him is easy to confirm from reliable online sources, beyond his connection with Perugia signaled by the name "Perugino" and his authorship of this manual. What makes him notable is not a well-documented life story, but the survival of a specialized teaching text that later scholars have described as an important source for understanding Italian dance practice around the turn of the 17th century.

For modern readers, Santucci is interesting because his book preserves the working knowledge of a dance master rather than a grand literary persona. That gives his writing a direct, practical quality—and makes him a valuable historical voice from a world where movement, etiquette, and music were closely linked.