Jacopo Tintoretto - Portrait of Alvise Cornaro - WGA22687

Alvise Cornaro, often Italianised Luigi (1484, 1467 or 1464 gives a birth date of 1467 – 8 May 1566), was a

Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetians might refer to: * Masters of Venetian painting in 15th-16th centuries * ...

nobleman and patron of arts, also remembered for his four books of ''Discorsi'' (published 1583–1595) about the secrets to living long.

Early life

Born in

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

, in the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

, the son of an innkeeper, who claimed a connection to the noble Cornaro family of Venice, a connection he was at pains to prove, Cornaro expanded a modest stake from his mother's brother into a fortune based on his entrepreneurial skills, especially in

hydraulics Hydraulics () is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counterpart of pneumatics, which concer ...

that reclaimed

wetlands A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

for farming, expressed in his ''Tratto di Acque'' ("Tract on Water management") of 1566.

Later life

As a patron, Cornaro sat to

Tintoretto Jacopo Robusti (late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594), best known as Tintoretto ( ; , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized th ...

for his portrait and guided the career of the Veronese artist-architect

Giovanni Maria Falconetto Giovanni Maria Falconetto (c. 1468–1535) was an Italian architect and painter. He designed among the first high Renaissance buildings in Padua, the '' Loggia Cornaro'', a garden ''loggia'' for Alvise Cornaro built as a Roman doric arcade. Alo ...

, whose Loggia and Odeo Cornaro (1524) for Alvise's then suburban garden in Padua was an early

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

-style building in the

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

. As financial advisor to the

Bishop of Padua The Diocese of Padua (; ) is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Veneto, northern Italy. It was erected in the 3rd century.Villa dei Vescovi ("Villa of the Bishops") at Luvigliano, in the Eugaean Hills, as well as his own Villa Cornaro in Este. Later in life, from about 1538, Cornaro was acquainted with the young mason who was to become

Andrea Palladio Andrea Palladio ( , ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be on ...

. Cornaro's own views on architecture are expressed in his ''Trattato dell'architettura'' ("Treatise on Architecture"). Cornaro constructed two theatres, the ''Odeo Cornaro'' in Padua and another in the gardens of his villa at Este.

Publications

When he was about 40, Cornaro found himself exhausted and in poor health, a condition he attributed to a hedonistic lifestyle with excessive eating, drinking, and sexual licentiousness. On the advice of doctors, he began to adhere to a

calorie restriction Calorie restriction (CR, also known as caloric restriction or energy restriction) is a dietary regimen that reduces the energy intake from foods and beverages without incurring malnutrition. The possible effect of calorie restriction on body w ...

diet specially for morbid obese/anorexia nervosa persons, centered on the "quantifying principle" of restricting himself to only 350g of food daily (including bread, egg yolk, meat, and soup) and 414 mL of wine. His book ''Discorsi della vita sobria''
Discourses On the Temperate Life
, which described his regimen, was extremely successful, and "was a true reconceptualization of old age. As late as the Renaissance it was largely the negative aspects of this phase of life which were emphasized ... Cornaro’s method offered the possibility for the first time not only of a long but also a worthwhile life." After his conversion to a holistic lifestyle, he remained in vigorous health well into old age. In 1550, when Cornaro claimed to be about 83, he was urged to write down his secrets of health, and its English translation, often referred to today under the title ''The Sure and Certain Method of Attaining a Long and Healthful Life'', went through numerous editions; he wrote three follow-ups in 1553, 1558, and 1562. The first three were published at

in 1558. They are written, says

Joseph Addison Joseph Addison (1 May 1672 – 17 May 1719) was an English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician. He was the eldest son of Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend Richard Steele, with w ...

, in the early 18th century periodical ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

'' (No. 195), "with such a spirit of cheerfulness, religion and good sense, as are the natural concomitants of temperance and sobriety."

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...

criticized the work for ''mistaking the consequence with the cause,'' insisting that Cornaro's diet is not the cause of his long life, but rather that the cause of his long life - which Nietzsche gives as his slow

metabolism Metabolism (, from ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cellular processes; the co ...

- is the reason for his diet. Cornaro maintained that longevity was desirable and "God wills it". He rejected ascetics who believed man must suffer in this life to attain salvation in the next, arguing that there was no reason one could not enjoy both his earthly existence and his heavenly one. In addition, he rejected conventional wisdom that old age was a period of misery and decay, writing "And now some sensual and unreasonable individuals pretend that the existence of a man after he passes the age of 65 cannot be termed a living one, but a dead one. I will plainly demonstrate that they are mistaken, for I have a desire that all men should attain my age, which is the most beautiful period of life." He also commented that at the age of 83, his health was good, he could perform most functions unassisted, and he had a wide circle of younger friends and correspondents. Cornaro also firmly condemned those with a live-fast-and-die-young mentality, stating that "They don't stop and consider the virtue of ten more years of active life, at a point where we've reached a high point of experience and wisdom, two things that can only be honed with time." He died at Padua at age 98, according to his birth and death date in the 1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica''; other sources give his age at death as 102. However, Cornaro deliberately overstated his age by consistently increasing amounts as he got older. Therefore, it seems safer to assume his birth date to be 1484, the one he declared in an esposto he lodged to Serenissima, both because of the degree of officialism imposed by that context and because that date is the latest among the ones he provided along his life. In the work known as ''

Illustrissimi ''Illustrissimi'', or "''To the Illustrious Ones''", is a collection of letters written by Pope John Paul I when he was Patriarch of Venice. The letters were originally published in the Italian Christian paper ''Messaggero di S. Antonio'' between ...

'', a collection of letters written by

Pope John Paul I Pope John Paul I (born Albino Luciani; 17 October 1912 – 28 September 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 26 August 1978 until his death 33 days later. His reign is among the shortest in papal h ...

when he was Patriarch of

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, Cornaro serves as one of the "recipients" of the letters. There are 40 letters in all, mainly to people in Italian history and fiction, but also to internationally well known fictional and historical characters such as

Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel, ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a poor man named Geppetto in a Tuscan vil ...

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

Hippocrates Hippocrates of Kos (; ; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician and philosopher of the Classical Greece, classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He is traditionally referr ...

, and

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

References

External links

* * *
Luigi Cornaro Online writings on the Temperate life
*Fischer, Sören: The Allegorical Landscape: Alvise Cornaro and his Self-Promotion by the Landscape Paintings in the Odeo Cornaro in Padua, in Kunstgeschichte, 2013
online-pdf
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornaro, Alvise 1566 deaths Republic of Venice nobility Italian non-fiction writers Italian male writers

Luigi Luigi (; ) is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Part of Nintendo's ''Mario'' franchise, he is a kind-hearted, cowardly Italian plumber, and the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario. Like ...

Writers from Padua Italian Renaissance writers 16th-century Italian writers Diet food writers Year of birth uncertain Male non-fiction writers