THE CURIAL HUMANIST FRANCESCO SPERULO CLAIMED TO build the Medici villa in verse, constructing the edifice in 407 lines of hexameter, preceded by a prose letter dedicating the work to Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici. The poet praises his patron and Pope Leo, as well as their Medici ancestors, but most of all he talks about the villa they are just beginning to build on the Monte Mario, describing it as if he can already see it. As we have seen, Sperulo's poem was one of several works written about the Medici villa, and was based on a long and rich literary tradition of villa panegyrics. Yet his poem was highly unusual for its length, its specificity to the actual villa, some of its subject matter, and the very fact of praising an actual building not yet built. Here, we take up the poet's vision of the villa, examining it in the context of literary tradition and Medici dynastic ideology, beginning with a brief synopsis of the poem's scope and structure.

THE POET AS MEDICI VATES

Sperulo attributes almost all of his poem to Father Tiber; the first eleven lines of the poem establish that Tiber is managing the villa's construction, and line 12 through the penultimate line 406 is an extended quote from the river god. His tasks include supplying materials on rafts, encouraging the workers to best the ancients (8–14), and excavating ancient marbles and transporting them to the villa (44). Father Tiber lavishly praises the site (14–21) and extols Cardinal Giulio for using art to elevate a site graced by Nature (22–32). Tiber commences his description of the villa by pointing out ancient marbles that he is placing there (47–77). He then praises at length the Medici ancestors beginning with Giovanni di Bicci (78–204), tracing the family back to the Etruscan king Porsenna, drawing on traditional imagery of the Etruscan origin of Tuscany and the Medici family.