Agazio di Somma was a prolific writer. He published a chronicle of earthquakes in Calabria during 1638-1641, titled Istorico racconto de' terremoti della Calabria dal 1638 al 1641 (Naples, 1641) and an Italian life of saint
Pius V, translated into
French by
André Félibien in 1672.[8] In a discourse before the
Accademia degli Umoristi, he proclaimed that
Giambattista Marino's Adone surpassed its model,
Torquato Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered. Ironically, two of Marino's staunchest disciples,
Girolamo Preti and
Antonio Bruni, were the first to denounce the possibility that the Adone might rank superior to the Gerusalemme. The episode annoyed Marino and embittered him against his friends.
List of works
Agazio di Somma, I due primi canti dell'America, Poema heroico, Rome: Bartolomeo Zannetti, 1624.
Agazio di Somma, L'arte del viver felice, ovvero Le tre giornate di oro. Messina : Giacomo Mattei, 1649 (2nd edit. Naples: Gio. Alberto Tarini, 1654).
Agazio di Somma, La vie du pape Pie V, translated by André Félibien; Paris : J.B. Coignard, 1672 (
on-line).
Agazio di Somma, Dell'origine dell'anno santo. Pietro De Leo (ed.). Collana Biblioteca di storia e cultura meridionale. Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino Editore, 2000, ISBN 8849800568 (
[1]).