Born
Gasparino di Pietrobuono in the village of Barzizza, near
Bergamo, he studied
grammar and
rhetoric at
Pavia. Remaining there to teach from 1403 to 1407, he subsequently moved to
Venice to serve as private tutor to the
Barbaro family. His nephew was
Antonio Barzizza. Unable to find backing in Venice in order to establish a school there, Gasparino then taught at Padua (1407–21), enjoying his most productive writing period, where his reputation as a teacher and scholar was established. He was appointed to lecture there on rhetoric and on authors such as
Seneca,
Cicero,
Virgil, and
Terence. He then taught at
Ferrara, and on the invitation of
Filippo Maria Visconti, opened an elementary school at
Milan in 1418, to be organized along the same lines as Gasparino's school at Padua. He taught at Milan from 1421 and also served as Visconti's court
orator. Gasparino also served as secretary to
Pope Martin V and in this capacity attended the
Council of Constance. Gasparino died at Milan around 1431, after which
Lorenzo Valla succeeded him as chair of rhetoric in Pavia. By his marriage to Lucrezia Alliardi, Gasparino had a son, named Guimforte (Guiniforto) Barzizza (c. 1406–63), who became a distinguished scholar and writer. Guimforte married Giovannina Malabarba. ==Works==