Filippo Acciaiuoli was an Italian composer, librettist, theater manager, machine designer, and poet. Acciaiuoli spent much of his youth and early adulthood traveling throughout Europe, the Middle East and Northern Africa. After returning to Rome in his early twenties, he initially studied mathematics at a seminary in Rome but ultimately became interested in theater. He is best known for his work as a librettist for operas such as Jacopo Melani's Girello, which premiered in Rome in 1668, and as the inventor of numerous sophisticated machines that were used in theatrical productions of the day. He also composed one opera, Chi è cagion del suo mal pianga se stesso, which premiered in Rome in 1682.