Count Vittorio Alfieri was born on January 16, 1749, Asti, Kingdom of Sardinia. He was an Italian tragic poet and dramatist whose writings were aimed at the overthrow of tyranny and to revive the national spirit of Italy.
He was educated in a military academy in Turin, Italy. He became an ensign but soon left the military and traveled through Europe were he developed an appreciation of literature. He wrote his first tragedy Cleopatra which was performed in 1775 to great acclaim. Between 1776 and 1786 he wrote 19 tragedies and several comedies including Saul, Maria Stuart, Antigone, Filippo, Polinice, Virginia, Agamennone, Oreste, Rosmunda, Ottavia, Timoleone, and Merope.
Alfreri also many sonnets, five odes on American independence, an ode on the fall of the Bastille in Paris, one opera Abele and the poem of Etruria
Vittorio Alfreri died on October 8, 1803, in Florence, Italy at age 54.