Leon Battista Alberti (born 1404, Genoa; died 1472) was an Italian Renaissance humanist, architect, author and theorist. He wrote treatises on architecture and painting and composed literary works including Apologi Centum.

Born in 1404 in Genoa into an exiled Florentine family; educated in the trivium and quadrivium. He returned toward Florence after exile (the review cites 1428 as the end of exile). Author of De Re Aedificatoria and De Pictura; credited with designing the Rucellai Palace and restoring the facade of Santa Maria Novella. He promoted the Certame Coronario (1441). The reviewed edition of Apologi Centum referenced is published by Giunti-Nardini (1979) with translation and interpretation by Bruno Nardini and illustrations by Adriana Saviozzi Mazza.

The single DeBaser review highlights Alberti's Apologi Centum (One Hundred Fables) and its classical, allegorical style. It emphasizes Alberti's humanist breadth — literary, architectural, and civic — and his moral critique of contemporaries. The review cites a modern Italian edition (Giunti-Nardini, 1979) with translation by Bruno Nardini and illustrations by Adriana Saviozzi Mazza.

For:Readers interested in Renaissance humanism, fables, Italian Renaissance architecture and literature.

 "Dear Aesop, I have learned that the Latins greatly admired your grand and beautiful wit, which manifested especially in writing those Fables that deservedly made you famous, to the point of being called 'divine.' I too have written some Fables; I composed a hundred of them in very few days (you can believe me because I swear it by the sacred name of Fame) and it is these that I venture to send to you. I very much wish to know what you think of them. Please, let me know your impression and the judgment you choose to give. Farewell to you!".

  Discover the review

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