Luca Assarino was born on 18 October 1602 in
Potosí, his father was from
Liguria and his mother a Portuguese. In 1612 he followed his father who returned to his homeland, and set up home in
Santa Margherita Ligure. In 1618, Luca married Geronima Pino, the daughter of a notary. In 1619 Assarino was sentenced to 10 years of confinement in
Corsica for having killed a young man. He got parole in 1625 subject to the obligation to join the army, where he served until 1627. After another charge of murder, of his father-in-law, he was sentenced to three years of imprisonment in
Savona, he escaped and his wife bailed him. In 1635 he published his first novel,
La Stratonica, promptly translated into English, French and German, which became among the most read novels in 17th-Century Italy, having reached thirty editions between 1635 and 1697. Other writings followed: the novel ''L'Armelinda
in 1640, Zampilli d'Ippocrene
and Ragguagli d'Amore del Regno di Cipro
two poems dated 1642, the historical book Delle rivoluzioni di Catalogna
in 1644 and a religious book Vita e miracoli di S. Antonio da Padova'' in 1646. In 1646 he became editor of the newspaper
Genova (known as
Il Sincero for the additional title that sometimes appeared under his management), a job he carried out until 1660 along with the writing of
hand-writing newssheets, which he used to sell at high prices. In 1649, due to his pro-French leanings, he was appointed official historiographer of the
Duchy of Savoy thanks to
Christine of France. In 1660, he moved to
Milan and then to
Mantua in the following years, and also lived in
Casale. After going back to Milan he published his most important historical work ''Delle guerre e successi d'Italia
(in English: Of the wars and events of Italy''), which had a reasonable success, even if nowadays it is considered partisan and not accurate. In the meantime he worked as informer for the Savoy, Spain and Genoa. He died in Turin on 18 October 1672. ==References==