Giovanni Aurelius Augurello (Joannes Aurelius Augurellus) (1441–1524) was an Italian humanist scholar, poet and alchemist

Alchemy

Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...

. Born at Rimini

Rimini

Rimini is a medium-sized city of 142,579 inhabitants in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It is located on the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia and Ausa...

, he was based mostly at Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

. He is best known for his 1515 poem on the making of gold, Chrysopoeia

Chrysopoeia

In alchemy, the term chrysopoeia means transmutation into gold , although it is also symbolically used to indicate the philosopher's stone as the completion of the Great Work....

, which was dedicated to Pope Leo X

Pope Leo X

Pope Leo X , born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, was the Pope from 1513 to his death in 1521. He was the last non-priest to be elected Pope. He is known for granting indulgences for those who donated to reconstruct St. Peter's Basilica and his challenging of Martin Luther's 95 Theses...

; leading to a celebrated story, that the Pope had rewarded Augurello — with an empty purse.

His other works include Carmina (1505), Geronticon liber, Iambici libri, and Sermonum libri.