Ciro Spontone

Ciro Spontoni (15521612) was an Italian advisor to rulers, diplomat, and historian.

Biography Born in Bologna, Spontoni served as secretary to several high-placed dignitaries in Northern Italy, including the archbishop of Ravenna; the bishop of Policastro; the Duke of Nemours, Giacomo di Savoia (Jacques, Duke of Nemours); , marchese di Castiglione, and the Duke of Mantua. He traveled with the latter to Hungary and Transylvania. He also served as secretary to the Bolognese Senate. He also published a book on Metoposcopia (Metoposcopy), a mixture of astrology and phrenologic interpretation of forehead wrinkles.

Works Among his works are: Dodici libri del governo dello Stato (Verona, ad istanza di Giò. Battista Pigozzo e Andrea de Rossi, 1599). Ragguaglio del fatto d'arme seguito nell'Africa tra Don Sebastiano, re di Portogallo (King Sebastian of Portugal) e Matei Auda Mlucco (Muley-Abdel Melck or Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik I Saadi) (1601, Bologna). Azioni dei re dell'Ungheria (1602, Bologna). Avvertimenti della storia di Guicciardini (1608, Bergamo).