Giovanni Dondi dall' Orologio

Giovanni Dondi dall'Orologio was an Italian poet, physician and astrologer who lived from approximately 1330 to 1388. He was born in Chioggia and died in Abbiategrasso. His figure is relevant to music because of the circulation that some of his texts achieved among the composers and minstrels of his time.

He taught in Padua, Pavia and Florence, and was a friend of Petrarch, whose circle he frequented and whose influence is evident in his work. He wrote sonnets, five madrigals and three ballades, preserved in the manuscript I-Vm lat.XIV 223, which may be autograph.

His ballade "La sacrosanta carità d'amore", dated to around 1368, was set to music by Bartolino da Padova and also sent to the minstrel-poet Francesco di Vannozzo so that he might incorporate it into his repertoire. Another musical setting, of his ballade "Omay çascun se doglia", has survived.