Francesco Colonna

Little is firmly known about this Italian writer beyond the broad outline: he was a Dominican priest and monk from Venice, born around 1433 or 1434 and dead by 1527. He is traditionally credited with Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, first printed in Venice by Aldus Manutius in 1499.

That book is the reason he is remembered. Part allegorical romance, part dream vision, part display of Renaissance learning, it follows Poliphilo through a richly imagined world of gardens, ruins, inscriptions, ceremonies, and desire. Its language is famously unusual, blending Italian with Latinate and classical elements, and the book itself became celebrated for its elegant design and illustrations as much as for its story.

The attribution is usually connected to an acrostic in the text, which has led many readers to accept him as the author, though details of his life remain uncertain. Even so, the mystery around him only adds to the appeal: he stands as one of those rare figures known mainly through a single extraordinary work that has outlived its age.