Folgore da San Gimignano

Folgore da San Gimignano [folˈɡoːre da (s)san dʒimiɲˈɲaːno], pseudonym of Giacomo di Michele or Jacopo di Michele (c. 1270 – c. 1332) was an Italian poet.

He represented mostly hunting scenes, jousts of the citadine bourgeoisie of Tuscany. 32 sonnets are attributed to him, written around 1308-1316. The most famous ones are the corone dedicated to the days of the week and the months. The language is Tuscan, the poetic form a derivation of the Provençal then ruling in Italian poetry. Others had an anti-Ghibelline satirical tone.

His corone were later satirized by Cenne della Chitarra.

Little more is known about his life: he is cited in a document in 1295 and other sources date his death to 1332.

Cultural references

• Two of his sonnets, April and May, were set to music in Primavera che non vi rincresca, a composition written in 1971 by Italian composer Lorenzo Ferrero.
• Both Folgore and Cenne are mentioned in Francesco Guccini's "Canzone dei dodici mesi" ("Song of the Twelve Months"), from the album Radici (1972).