Alessandro Marchetti was born in Pontorno, Tuscany, and from an early age showed signs of poetic talent. Sent by his family to Florence to study law, he went instead to Pisa to study philosophy and science under Borelli. Marchetti was later named to the chairs of logic (1658) and philosophy (1659) at Pisa, where he taught with unprecedented independance, without reference to the authority of Aristotle. In 1679 he succeeded Borelli in the chair of mathematics. He wrote on mathematics and physics. His Italian translations of classical literature, particularly of Lucretius' De Rerum natura published in London in 1717 are considered models of precision and elegance.