wrote Carminum Liber, a collection of various odes and epistles in the style of Horace which makes artful use of classical models, including Horace, Catullus, Virgil, Euripides, and Propertius. Latin writings His skills in rhetoric and diplomacy were instrumental in securing Della Casa a series of posts at the Vatican, positions of high esteem at the time. His Latin writing style was on display in letters and political documents, as well as in two orations directed to the Republic of Venice and Carlo V. During his stay in Venice, he wrote the treatise Quaestio lepidissima: an uxor sit ducenda, in which he questioned the value of marriage. He wrote a biography of Bembo, admiring his friend’s ability to write equally well in Latin and Italian, in prose and verse, rare talents he likewise possessed. His Latina Monumenta were edited by Piero Vettori and published by Bernardo di Giunta (fl. 1518–1550) in Florence (1564). Vettori gave pride of place to a Carminum Liber, Vettori also included Life of Caspar Contarini, De officiis, and translations from Thucydides, Plato and Aristotle. A complete edition of his works was published at Florence in 1707, to which is prefixed a life by Casotti. Inquisition In his rôle as papal legate to Venice, he "was also the inquisitor who had Baldo Lupetino arrested, and who also eventually wiped out the large Lutheran community in Venice". Curiosities He is also credited as the first person to use the phrase ragion di Stato, or "national interest," in his Oration to Carlo V in 1549. The Abbey of Nervesa near Treviso, where it is thought Della Casa wrote Galateo, was bombed and today is in ruins. The villa of Monsignor Della Casa is today a luxury resort. References Sources External links Le opere di Giovanni della Casa su BIVIO (Biblioteca Virtuale On-Line) . The Carminum Liber (Poem Book) of Giovanni della Casa Dizionario biografico Treccani 1503 births 1556 deaths People from Borgo San Lorenzo 16th-century Italian poets 16th-century male writers Italian male poets 16th-century Italian Roman Catholic archbishops Archbishops of Benevento Burials at Sant'Andrea della Valle Apostolic Nuncios to the Republic of Venice