Giambattista Marini (or Marino) (October 18, 1569 - March 25 1625) was an Italian poet, born at Naples.
After a somewhat disreputable youth, during which he became known for his Canzone de' bad, he secured the powerful patronage of Cardinal Aldobrandini, whom he accompanied from Rome to Ravenna and Turin. An edition of his poems, La Lira, was published at Venice in 1602-1614.
His ungoverned pen and disordered life compelled him to leave Turin and take refuge from 1615 to 1622 in Paris, where he was favourably recognized by Marie de' Medici. There his long poem Adone was published in 1623. He died at Naples.
The licence, extravagance and conceits of Marini, the chief of the school of "Secentisti", were characteristic of a period of literary decadence.
See M. Menghini, G.B. Marini (Rome, 1888).
