Pierio Valeriano Bolzani
Italian humanist
Pierio Valeriano (3 February 1477 – 18 June 1558), born Giovanni Pietro dalle Fosse, was an Italian Renaissance humanist, specializing in the early study of Egyptian hieroglyphs. His most famous works were On the Ill Fortune of Learned Men (De litteratorum infelicitate) and Hieroglyphica, sive, De sacris Aegyptiorvm literis commentarii, a study on hieroglyphics and their use in allegory.
Early life (1477–1509)
Valeriano was born in Belluno, Italy, on 2 February 1477 to a poor family. His father, Lorenzo, was a craftsman who died around 1492, leaving a widow and four children in poverty with a young Valeriano as head of the household.
He began his schooling in Belluno at the public school of Giosippo Faustino, a man who Valeriano would later describe as a gifted and talented teacher. Valeriano remembered his schooling fondly, but constantly felt the burden of supporting his family.
Around 1493, Valeriano was brought to Venice by his uncle Fra Urbano Bolzanio, a well-connected Franciscan friar and authority on the Greek language. Bolzanio taught the young Valeriano Greek, and made it possible for him to study under some of Venice's finest teachers at the time including Giorgio Valla and Marcantinio Sabellico. It was Sabellico that changed Valeriano's name in honor of the Pierian Muses.
Around 1500 he moved to Padua to study under Leonico Tomeo.
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