BRACCIOLINI, FRANCESCO, an Italian poet, born at Pistoja, of a noble family, A.D. 1566. Removing to Florence, he was admitted into the academy there, and devoted himself to literature. At Rome he entered into the service of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, with whom he afterwards went to France. After the death of Clement VIII. he returned to his own country; and when his patron Barberini was elected pope under the name of Urban VIII., Bracciolini repaired to Rome, and was made secretary to the pope's brother, Cardinal Antonio. He had also the honour conferred on him of taking a surname from the arms of the Barberini family, which were bees; whence he was afterwards known by the name of Bracciolini dell' Api. During Urbane's pontificate the poet lived at Rome in considerable reputation, though, at the same time, he was censured for his sordid avarice. On the death of this pontiff he returned to Pistoja, where he died in 1645. There is scarcely any species of poetry, epic, dramatic, pastoral, lyric, or burlesque, which Bracciolini did not attempt; but he is principally noted for his mock-heroic poem entitled Lo Scherno degli Dei, which was published in 1618, four years before Tassoni's Secchia Rapita; yet, though the author wished to claim the merit of priority, it should be observed that Tassoni's poem was completed in 1615, and freely circulated in MS. The inferiority of Bracciolini's performance, indeed, is acknowledged, yet it obtained considerable applause. Of his serious heroic poems, the most celebrated is La Croce Racquistata, which by some is placed next to the works of Ariosto and Tasso, scd magno intervallo.