Albertino Mussato

Albertino Mussato (1261&mdash;31 May 1329) was an Early Renaissance Italian statesman, poet, historian and dramatist credited with providing an impetus to the revival of literary Latin.

A native of Padua, a major city in the northern Veneto region, Mussato was a chronicler of his times, whose 1315 Latin verse play Ecerinis, earned him a crown as Poet Laureate, is considered the first Italian tragedy identifiable as a Renaissance work. .

In addition to his prolific writings, he is also remembered in contemporary accounts as a champion of poetry which he defended in a 1317 polemical exchange of letters with a Dominican friar, Giovannino of Mantua.

Albertino Mussato died in Chioggia in the year of his 68th birthday.