Gregorio Leti

author

Gregorio Leti

1630–1701

Best known for sharp, lively histories of popes and princes, this Milan-born writer turned controversy into a career. His books mixed scholarship, satire, and political drama, making him one of the most talked-about Italian authors of the late seventeenth century.

1 Audiobook

Il nipotismo di Roma, or, The History of the Popes Nephews from the time of Sixtus IV. to the death of the last Pope, Alexander VII

Il nipotismo di Roma, or, The History of the Popes Nephews from the time of Sixtus IV. to the death of the last Pope, Alexander VII

by Gregorio Leti

About the author

Born in Milan in 1630, Gregorio Leti was an Italian historian and satirist who wrote with unusual energy about church and court politics. He was educated by Jesuits, but after resisting the church career planned for him, he left Italy and later settled in Geneva, where he converted to Protestantism.

Leti became famous for biographies, political histories, and especially for his writings on the papacy. He also published under names including Abbé Gualdi. His work was widely read for its vivid storytelling and fearless tone, but it also drew strong criticism, and his publications were placed on the Index of Prohibited Books.

Later in life he worked in northern Europe and died in Amsterdam in 1701. Today he is remembered less as a strictly reliable historian than as a brilliant and provocative literary figure whose books capture the religious and political tensions of his age.