A Life Across Several Callings
Giovio was born on 19 April 1483 and died on 11 December 1552. His career brought together medicine, historical scholarship, biography, writing, and service as a prelate.
Literature
Paolo Giovio
Paolo Giovio united the perspectives of a physician, historian, and biographer to record the people and events of his age.
Paolo Giovio was an Italian physician, historian, biographer, writer, and prelate. Born in 1483 and active across several fields, he became known particularly for his historical and biographical writing. His story remains connected to Como through the place now identified as the Giovio Museum.
Worth knowing
Historian and Biographer
Giovio devoted part of his work to history and biography. These roles made the lives of individuals, as well as the events around them, central to his writing.
The Giovio Museum
In Como, the Giovio Museum is linked to Paolo Giovio as a residence. It gives his wide-ranging life a specific point on the modern city map.
Addresses you can still visit
Every place in this city with a documented tie to this person.
Lived here
Giovio Museum
A purpose-built Renaissance museum that housed Paolo Giovio’s extraordinary collection of 484 portraits of writers, rulers, statesmen, and military figures.
Follow the story on foot
These addresses are scattered across the city. Our routes and quests put them in an order that works.