Italian theorist, composer, and writer. Born in Bologna, he entered the Order of S. Salvatore in that city in 1562, where he spent most of his life. He studied with Zarlino in Venice, and defended and amplified that composer's views in L'arte del contrapunto (1598), a theoretical work of wide influence. In L'Artusi, overo delle imperfettioni della moderna musica ragionamenti dui (Venice, 1600), and in the Seconda parte dell' Artusi (1603), he spoke out against the abuses of an unnamed composer. Claudio Monteverdi, the composer in question, responded in the preface to his fifth book of madrigals (1605), and in a pamphlet, Ottusio accademico. Central to the L'Artusi volumes is a discourse on the problems in ensemble playing arising from disparate tuning systems.