{{Short description|Italian writer, journalist and informer (1602–1672)}} {{Infobox writer | name = Luca Assarino | birth_date = {{Birth date|1602|10|18}} | birth_place = Potosí, Viceroyalty of Peru | death_date = {{Death date and age|1672|10|18|1602|10|18}} | death_place = Turin, Duchy of Savoy | language = Italian | nationality = Republic of Genoa | genres = novel, historical, journalism | notableworks = ''La Stratonica''<br/>''Delle guerre e successi d'Italia'' | spouse = Geronima Pino, Ottavia Battezzati | movement = Baroque }}
'''Luca Assarino''' (18 October 1602{{snd}}18 October 1672) was an Italian writer, journalist and informer.{{r|DBI}} His novel ''La Stratonica'' was among the most read novels in the 17th-century Italy.{{r|Ass}}
==Life== Luca Assarino was born on 18 October 1602 in Potosí,{{r|DaC}}{{rp|13}} his father was from Liguria and his mother a Portuguese. In 1612 he followed his father who returned to his homeland, and set up home in Santa Margherita Ligure. In 1618, Luca married Geronima Pino, the daughter of a notary.
In 1619 Assarino was sentenced to 10 years of confinement in Corsica for having killed a young man. He got parole in 1625 subject to the obligation to join the army, where he served until 1627. After another charge of murder, of his father-in-law, he was sentenced to three years of imprisonment in Savona, he escaped and his wife bailed him.{{r|DBI}}
In 1635 he published his first novel, ''La Stratonica'', promptly translated into English, French and German,{{r|Ass}} which became among the most read novels in 17th-Century Italy, having reached thirty editions between 1635 and 1697.{{r|Get}} Other writings followed: the novel ''L'Armelinda'' in 1640, ''Zampilli d'Ippocrene'' and ''Ragguagli d'Amore del Regno di Cipro'' two poems dated 1642, the historical book ''Delle rivoluzioni di Catalogna'' in 1644 and a religious book ''Vita e miracoli di S. Antonio da Padova'' in 1646.
In 1646 he became editor of the newspaper ''Genova'' (known as ''Il Sincero'' for the additional title that sometimes appeared under his management), a job he carried out until 1660 along with the writing of hand-writing newssheets, which he used to sell at high prices.{{r|Puc}} In 1649, due to his pro-French leanings, he was appointed official historiographer of the Duchy of Savoy thanks to Christine of France.{{r|DaC}}{{rp|155}}
In 1660, he moved to Milan and then to Mantua in the following years, and also lived in Casale. After going back to Milan he published his most important historical work ''Delle guerre e successi d'Italia'' (in English: ''Of the wars and events of Italy''), which had a reasonable success, even if nowadays it is considered partisan and not accurate. In the meantime he worked as informer for the Savoy, Spain and Genoa. He died in Turin on 18 October 1672.{{r|DBI}}
==References== {{Reflist| refs= <ref name="Get">{{cite book | last=Getrevi | first=Paolo | title=Dal picaro al gentiluomo : scrittura e immaginario nel Seicento narrativo | publisher=F. Angeli | year=1986 | oclc=144754014 | language=it | page=11| isbn=9788820446406 }}</ref> <ref name="Puc">{{cite book |editor-last=Puncuh|editor-first=Dino| year=2005| title=Storia della cultura ligure|volume=3| publication-place=Genova| publisher=Società ligure di storia patria| oclc=185353221| language=it | chapter=Giornali e periodici nella Repubblica Aristocratica|first=Roberto|last=Beccaria|pages=449–475|url=http://www.storiapatriagenova.it/Scheda_vs_info.aspx?Id_Scheda_Bibliografica=1506}}</ref> <ref name="DBI">{{DBI| volume=4|last =Asor-Rosa| first =Alberto | title =Assarino, Luca| url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/luca-assarino_(Dizionario-Biografico)}}</ref> <ref name="Ass">{{cite book | last=Assarino | first=Luca | title=La Stratonica | publisher=Pensa multimedia | publication-place=Lecce | year=2003 | isbn=88-8232-299-8 | oclc=61665028 | language=it | contributor-first=Roberta|contributor-last=Colombi |contribution=Introduction| page=IX}}</ref> <ref name="DaC">{{cite book | last=Da Col | first=Ivo | title=Un romanzo del seicento : "La Stratonica" di Luca Assarino | publisher=Olschki | year=1981 | isbn=88-222-2996-7 | oclc=185809633 | language=it | page=13,155}}</ref> }}
==External links== * {{cite journal|last=Capucci|first=M.|year=2002|title=Assarino, Luca|journal=The Oxford Companion to Italian Literature|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=7 June 2023|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198183327.001.0001/acref-9780198183327-e-193}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Assarino, Luca}} Category:1602 births Category:1672 deaths Category:Writers from the Republic of Genoa Category:17th-century Genoese people Category:17th-century Italian writers Category:17th-century Italian male writers Category:17th-century journalists Category:17th-century Italian criminals Category:17th-century Italian historians Category:Italian male non-fiction writers Category:Italian spies Category:Italian journalists Category:Italian people of Portuguese descent Category:Italian people convicted of murder Category:Italian newspaper editors Category:Italian Baroque writers Category:17th-century Italian novelists Category:17th-century people from the Savoyard State