Dictionary.net

An Italian humorist and poet; born in Florence, March 22, 1503; died there, Feb. 18, 1584. Of much native humor, he graduated from apothecary to writer of literary burlesques. He was one of the founders of the celebrated Florentine Academy; was expelled in consequence of a disputed question of grammar, and established the renowned Accademia della Crusca, whose mission was the purification of the Italian tongue. His literary reputation rests on his "Suppers", written on the model of Boccaccio, and vastly popular at one time. In style they are pure and refined, and they contributed much to the literary development of the language. Seven highly amusing comedies, of a not high literary flavor, and a burlesque poem, "The War of Monsters", complete the list of his remembered achievements.