Alessandro Tassoni

Tassoni, Alessandro (älĕs-sän'drō täs-sô'nē), 1565-1635, Italian poet. He spent much of his life in the service of Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy and Francesco I of Modena. His sharp letter (1602) of defense against accusations by the Italian Inquisition revealed him as a polemist of high order, as did his Manifesto (written 1627, pub. 1856), a bizarre and violent attack on the House of Savoy. Tassoni is best known for the mock-heroic poem Secchia rapita [the rape of the bucket] (1622), which ridicules the war between Bologna and Modena.