| Giovanni Mario Crescimbeni | |
| Birth Date: | 9 October 1663 |
| Birth Place: | Macerata, Papal States |
| Death Place: | Rome, Papal States |
| Occupation: | Poet and critic |
| Nationality: | Italian |
| Notableworks: | Istoria della volgar poesia |
| Period: | 17th century |
Giovanni Mario Crescimbeni (9 October 16638 March 1728) was an Italian critic and poet. Crescimbeni was a founding member and leader of the erudite literary society of Accademia degli Arcadi in Rome.
Born in Macerata, which was then part of the Papal States, and educated by a French priest in Rome, he entered the Jesuits' college of his native town, where he produced a tragedy on the story of Darius, and versified the Pharsalia. In 1679 he received the degree of doctor of law, and in 1680 he moved again to Rome.
The study of Vincenzo Filicaja and Niccolò Leonico having convinced him that he and all his contemporaries were working in the wrong direction, he resolved to attempt a general reform. In 1690, in conjunction with fourteen others, he founded the celebrated Academy of Arcadians, and began the contest against false taste and its adherents. The academy was most successful; branch societies were opened in all the principal cities of Italy; and the influence of Giambattista Marino, opposed by the simplicity and elegance of such models as Angelo di Costanzo, soon died away.
Crescimbeni officiated as secretary to the Arcadians for thirty-eight years. He edited 7 volumes of members' biographies (1708–1727) and 12 volumes of their verse and prose works (1716–1722). In 1705 he was made canon of Santa Maria in Cosmedin; in 1715 he obtained the chief curacy attached to the same church; and about two months before he died (1728) he was admitted a member of the Society of Jesus. His principal work is the Istoria della volgar poesia (1698), an estimate of all the poets of Italy, past and contemporary, which may yet be consulted with advantage.
The most important of his numerous other publications are the Commentarii (5 volumes, 1702–1711), and La Bellezza della volgar poesia (1700).