Filippo Bruno was born in Nola, Italy, in 1548. At the age of seventeen he joined the Dominican Order in Naples and changed his given name to Giordano. Eleven years later, anticipating an indictment for heresy, he put off his monastic dress and fled. During the next sixteen years he wandered throughout Europe, pausing here and there until his welcome wore out. Three of these years were spent in England, where he became a member of the circle surrounding Florio, Philip Sidney and Fulke Greville. It was during these three years that he produced the writings, in Italian, by which he is best known. In 1591, after further wanderings, he made the fatal mistake of returning to Italy. He was arrested in Venice and, after some dispute among the interested authorities, was consigned to the Inquisition in Rome. His trial occupied the remainnig eight years of his life.